Arun Lakra straddles the medical and creative worlds in his play Sequence

"Could I actually write a story about sequence, DNA and order," asks Canadian doctor and playwright Arun Lakra. Lakra is an opthamologist who has been infatuated with the idea of luck and his award-winning play, Sequence, explores science, faith and probability, asking the question, "what is luck?"

However, Lakra wasn't always writing intricate plays. "I've always been infatuated with stories where the content and the form are intertwined," says the doctor. Lakra began exploring his creative side while attending medical school at the University of Toronto. He entered a short story competition and won. "I just took a shot at it and inexplicably I won this competition," admits Lakra, "that got me on the pathway of writing."

Sequence tells two parallel stories, much like the way DNA is comprised of intertwining strands. One story follows a professor studying the disease that makes her legally blind and the other examines the connection between a pregnant woman and a man with the ability to predict who will win the coin toss at the Super Bowl. But, Lakra doesn't want to overwhelm his audience with scientific references. "This is about trying to reach the heart as well as the brain," says the doctor.

Sequence is showing until February 12 at Toronto's Tarragon Theatre. Find more details here.