A Conversation with Playwright Arun Lakra and Director Matt August

Arun Lakra (Playwright)
ATC debut. Arun’s first play, SEQUENCE, won the Alberta Playwriting Competition Grand Prize, Joanne Woodward/Paul Newman Award, Betty Mitchell Award, and has been produced across North America. Arun is also the recipient of the Blacklist/Warby Parker Writer’s Vision Grant (LA) and is appreciative of the support in developing HEIST. Arun is grateful to Chad Rabinovitz (Constellation Stage and Screen, Indiana) for making him write HEIST, to Matt August (ATC) for his belief and directorial brilliance, and to the incredible team at ATC for bringing this show to life. By day, Arun is a University of Toronto trained ophthalmologist and feels compelled to share embarrassing stories (from both worlds!) to medical students through his popular presentation, MEDISCENES: Moments, Mistakes, and Lessons Learned from a Life in Medicine and the Arts. Arun lives in Calgary, Canada with his muses Roopa, Taro, Siya, and (woof) Zephy. www.arunlakra.com. IG: @alohalakra. X: @arunlakraOU.

Matt August (Director)
is the Kasser Family Artistic Director. He is a theatre, opera, and film director and educator whose productions have broken boxoffice records on Broadway (Grinch) and played in London, across the UK, Off-Broadway, in major Regional theatres, at festivals, on national tours, at the Grand Ole Opry, and for three holiday seasons at Madison Square Garden. His work has been featured on television talk shows and NPR and performed at the White House for President Bush, Cabinet Members, and military children. He was the Associate Director to multi-Tonywinning director Jack O’Brien on the Broadway productions of Henry IV, The Full Monty, The Invention of Love, and Imaginary Friends. He was promoted to Resident Director on Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love, for which both lead actors received Tony Awards, and on the Tony-winning Henry IV (Best Director and Best Revival). He also directed the Australia production of The Full Monty, earning a Helpmann Award co-nomination for Best Direction. MattAugust.com