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. Arun’s multi-award winning play, Sequence, has been published and produced across North America, including at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. His new play, Heist, had its World Premiere at Vertigo Theatre (Calgary) in 2024, with new productions taking place at the Grand Theatre (London) and Citadel Theatre (Edmonton) in 2025.
Arun is the recipient of multiple awards including, the Joanne Woodward/Paul Newman Award for Drama, the Betty Mitchell Award, the Calgary Theatre Critics' Award, the Blacklist x Warby Parker Writers Vision Grant, and the Alberta Playwriting Competition Grand Prize.
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.
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