Sequence

by Arun Lakra

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.

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 is confronted by Cynthia, a young woman who claims to have figured out his mathematical secret. 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?

"Dynamic and intriguing." — CBC Radio

"Sequence balances smart and heart." - Calgary Herald

Genres: Plays

112 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2014

Reviews

[Taryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting, makes you think while reading and kinda confuses you but in a good way.

[Belleleanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly loved this so much. It was so much fun and so confusing and yet everything was making sense in a weird way. I loved reading that play and the ending when everything ties in together perfectly was simply awesome.

5 stars out of 5😄⭐️

[Maya Hein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must say, this is one of the most interesting play's I've ever read or designed lights for. Although it does get a bit confusing in the script, the actors, stage and story progression truly help clear up the grey area. Making a surprisingly hilarious, philosophically complex, god mocking and surprisingly sexual play!

Though, besides many unclear stage queues, set designs and actor shenanigans (Though its only really footnotes) and the show being sexual and the worst goddamn times...

Its really charming, brings light to math and science in an interesting and humorous way. Its flexible enough for a group of Highschoolers to design, cut and reshape the script to their needs, and still being enjoyable.


TL;DR: I really like Sequence, did the lights for it, very rad, very solid play

[Ke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, this started out great and I found the ending very satisfying. I think this is the first time I’ve read a copy of a play with director’s notes, and I always really appreciate the amount of creativity and experimental staging that happens behind the scenes.

Unfortunately, for ~25 pages after the halfway point, this just dragged. I found the philosophy repetitious, the dialogue increasingly self-gratifying, and the characters just a little too caricatured to buy. A lot of important things were set up in this section so I’m not saying we should cut it out, but maybe we should cut it down?

On an unrelated note, I’ve never seen acknowledgments done like this: Just by listing out the names. I think I honestly prefer it this way.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for my drama class... science

[Gary McGugan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful play!

[Perla Ghabbour · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was incredible. simply amazing.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Cameron Delgado · Rating 2 out of 5]

holy reddit

finished just in time to submit my sound design pitch to the director, seems like it's gonna be a fun show but god i have beef with this writer 💀💀

[CM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Placeholder for Arun Lakra's Heist

[Katyaakan · Rating 5 out of 5]

hell yea
(for eng class)

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots happening and they talk a lot. How to direct this?