Shiu Hei Larry Ng

Shiu Hei Larry Ng is a PhD student at the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies, University of Toronto, and a recipient of the Connaught International Scholarship. His research examines the transformation of actor training and the development of new theatre pedagogies by early 20th-century Chinese pioneers who were trained and professionally active in traditional Chinese theatre while engaging deeply with modern Western drama—focusing on how their embodied experiments of synthesis offered alternative visions of modernization and intercultural exchange often overlooked in studies centred on Western-educated or theory-based reformers of the time.

Before pursuing his PhD, Larry completed his MA at the same Centre and holds academic degrees in Philosophy (BA, First Class Honours; MPhil), Drama Education (Master), and Psychology (Postgraduate Diploma). His writings on drama therapy and applied theatre have appeared in edited collections published by Routledge and in peer-reviewed journals.

Larry is a theatre practitioner (actor, director, movement coach, and mask maker), drama educator (drama-in-education and applied theatre), and a registered drama therapist (RDT, under NADTA). He is also a certified Feldenkrais Method practitioner and Jeremy Krauss Approach therapist for children with developmental disabilities.

Trained professionally in Physical and Devising Theatre (Lecoq approach) and Corporeal Mime (Decroux system), he specializes in mask performance, design, and construction. He was invited by the Warsaw International Mime Festival to perform, teach, and give masterclasses, and has served as faculty at the Warsaw Mime Centre’s Summer School of Modern Mime.

With over a decade of university teaching experience, Larry has lectured and conducted workshops internationally in Hong Kong, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Russia, Palestine, India, Mainland China, Macau, and Taiwan. His interdisciplinary background continues to shape his approach to theatre research, creation, and pedagogy.

Award:

Connaught International Scholarship (2025)

Publications:

• Ng, S. H. L. (2025). The Expanded EPR framework and Theatre of Resilience for Young Adults—from Theatre to the Coming-of-Age Ritual in response to Social Trauma. Handbook of Neuro-Dramatic-Play, Routledge, pp. 53-72
• Ng, S. H. L., (2024). Conventions as mediation for creative interaction between contemporary theatre art and applied practices of theatre. Education in the North, 31(2) pp.98-124.
• Ng, S. H. L., (2024). Experimental lesson plans for contemporary theatre and educational/ applied theatre to meet again under the mediation of conventions. Education in the North, 31(2) pp.166-184.
• Ng, S. H. L. (2024). A Transformative Journey of Masks in Drama Therapy: Reversing the Sequence in Lecoq's Physical Theatre Pedagogy. The Expressive Use of Masks Across Cultures and Healing Arts, Routledge, pp. 29-37.
• Ng, S. H. L. (2024). Playful and Poetic Embodiment for Indirect Processing of Trauma Using Masks: The Drama Therapy Framework Inspired by Lecoq's Physical Theatre Pedagogy. Trauma and Embodied Healing in Dramatherapy, Theatre and Performance, New York, Routledge, pp. 47-64.
• Ng, S. H. L. (2015). Cultivating the Artistry of Citizen Actor: Aesthetics, Pedagogy and Training Exercises For Playback Theatre as Art. Playback Theatre Practices: Selected Articles, Moscow, Vash Poligraphicheskiy Partner, pp. 212-228.

Professional Credentials:

• Registered Drama Therapist, North America Drama Therapy Association
• Certified Feldenkrais Method Practitioner
• Jeremy Krauss Approach Therapist