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Photo of Arun Lakra by John Shin.

Bio

Arun Lakra is an India-born, Calgary-based writer. He has written plays, screenplays, a song to protest the demotion of Pluto (unsuccessful!), and his share of illegible prescriptions. As a writer and as a consumer, Arun gravitates to material that is thought-provoking, innovative, fast-paced, structurally complex, and also makes him laugh. Sometimes only him. Once, a presumably concussed theatre reviewer compared his work to that of Aaron Sorkin. That was a good day. Ice cream was consumed.

In addition to his creative endeavors, Arun trained as an eye surgeon at the University of Toronto and has spent 25 years practicing ophthalmology. He is passionate about the intersection of science and the arts with the bidirectional flow of ideas, and he uses his platform to encourage students (and grown-ups) to explore both spheres.

Published Work

SequencePlaywrights Canada Press

Connect with Me

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Awards

  • Finalist for the Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play, HEIST (2024)
  • Finalist for the Calgary Theatre Critics Award for Best New Script, HEIST (2024)
  • Winner of the Blacklist x Warby Parker $20,000 Writers Vision Grant, Los Angeles (2023)
  • Quarterfinalist for The Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Competition, Los Angeles, FORTUNATO HEIST (2022)
  • Winner of the Rosie (Alberta Film and Television Award) for Best Screenwriter – Drama under 30 minutes, for short film PROBABILITY (2017)
  • Finalist for the Rosie (Alberta Film and Television Award) for Best Director – for short film PROBABILITY (2017)
  • World Premiere, World Competition Section, Montreal World Film Festival, PROBABILITY (2016)
  • Official Selection Boston Film Festival, Orlando Film Festival, Flickers Rhode Island Vortex Festival, Vancouver Asian Film Festival, PROBABILITY (2016)
  • Shortlisted for New American Voices Competition, American Actors UK, London, England, SEQUENCE (2015)
  • Winner of the Best Music Video (Writer/Director) of Toronto Independent Film Festival, MUST SELL SCREENPLAY! (2015)
  • Official Selection of the Orlando Film Festival and the Pasadena International Film Festival, MUST SELL SCREENPLAY! (2015)
  • Winner of the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Drama Prize (Writers Guild of Alberta Literary Awards), SEQUENCE (2014)
  • Long-listed for James Tait Black Prize for Drama, University of Edinburgh/National Theatre of Scotland, SEQUENCE (2014)
  • Winner of the Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play, SEQUENCE (2013)
  • Winner of the Calgary Theatre Critics Award for Best New Script, SEQUENCE (2013)
  • Winner of the Joanne Woodward/Paul Newman Award for Drama, Bloomington Playwrights Project, SEQUENCE (2013)
  • Finalist for STAGE (Scientists, Technologists, and Artists Generating Exploration) International Script Competition, University of California Santa Barbara, SEQUENCE. (Judges included 3 Pulitzer-Prize winners (Tony Kushner, David Lindsay-Abaire, Donald Margulies) and 2 Nobel Laureates (2012)
  • Winner of the Grand Prize, Alberta Playwriting Competition, Alberta Playwrights Network/Theatre Alberta, SEQUENCE, (2011)
  • Winner of the Praxis Centre for Screenwriters Feature Film Screenplay Workshop Competition, VOICES (2005)

If you love heist movies, like Ocean’s Eleven or the first Mission Impossible, this stage production is definitely for you.

Jenna Shummoogum Theatre ReviewsPraise for Heist

...the final reveal deservedly received the gasps, cheers and wild applause this play deserves.

Louis B. Hobson, Calgary HeraldPraise for Heist

Lakra’s writing style is a little bit Aaron Sorkin… a little bit David Mamet… and a whole lot of Tom Stoppard… all coming at you like a cavalcade of playwriting’s greatest hits over the past three decades. Sequence balances smart and heart.

Stephen Hunt, Calgary HeraldPraise for Sequence

I got a taste of such genius in Arun Lakra’s new play, Sequence. I want to see it again. Actually, I need to see it again. I can’t stop thinking about the final fifteen minutes. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been in love with intelligent, complicated and ominous psychological thrillers. The ones that give me chills and make me jump at the slightest provocation for days afterward… Sequence does not disappoint.

Kathleen Phalen-Tomaselli, The Post-StarPraise for Sequence

A thought-provoking drama… The central metaphor of the life- determining coin toss, and the combination of brainy concepts with acerbic wit, conjure Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. If you like brainy plays that challenge you to keep up and give you lots to pick apart afterwards, grab some clever friends and get along to this one.

Karen Fricker, Toronto StarPraise for Sequence

Delightful, philosophically-engaging, and inventive.

Megan Mooney, Mooney on TheatrePraise for Sequence

Lakra’s script is elegantly written and refuses to spoon-feed the audience.

Mel Priestley, Vue WeeklyPraise for Sequence