What do you get when you put a playwright-ophthalmologist at a writing desk? Sequence, the hugely popular, five-time-award-winning play inspired by the intersection between math, nature, and spirituality (and Aaron Sorkin).
By:
ALU Editor
Share It:
What:
Sequence (Playwrights Canada Press, 2014)
 
Who:
Arun Lakra is a writer, doctor, and father. As a writer, Arun has produced a book on laser eye surgery, a supernatural thriller screenplay, a song to protest the demotion of Pluto, a line of misunderstood t-shirts, and his share of illegible prescriptions.Arun lives in Calgary and divides his work week between his creative endeavours and his ophthalmology practice. 
 
Why you need to read this now:
What do you get when you put a playwright-ophthalmologist at a writing desk? Sequence, the hugely popular, five-time-award-winning play inspired by the intersection between math, nature, and spirituality (and Aaron Sorkin).Theo has been named Time Magazine’s Luckiest Man Alive. For twenty consecutive years he has successfully bet double or nothing on the Super Bowl coin toss. And he’s getting ready to risk millions on the twenty-first when he’s confronted by Cynthia, a young woman who claims to have figured out his mathematical secret.
 
Simultaneously, or so it seems, stem-cell researcher and professor Dr. Guzman is on the verge of a groundbreaking discovery. She’s also learned that one of her students has defied probability to get all 150 multiple-choice questions wrong on his genetics exam, but it’s not until he shows up to her office in the middle of the night that she’s able to determine if it’s simply bad luck.
 
The two narratives intertwine like a fragment of DNA to examine the interplay between logic and metaphysics, science and faith, luck and probability. Belief systems clash, ideas mutate, and order springs from chaos. With razor-sharp wit and playful language, Sequence asks, in our lives, in our universe, and even in our stories, does order matter?
Sequence is the winner of the 2013 Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play, the 2013 Calgary Theatre Critics Award for Best New Script, the 2013 Woodward/Newman Drama Award, and the 2011 Alberta Playwriting Competition.*****Many thanks to Mandy Bayrami and Playwrights Canada Press for sharing Sequence with us.
