Mr. Sprung has behind him a full four decades of tremendous contribution to the theatre scene in Québec, in Canada and internationally. As a director, as a producer, as a writer, as a teacher, as an actor, and as a dramaturg, his list of achievements is long and varied. He has been the founder of many long-lasting institutions, and the nurturer of artists and theatre professionals too many to count. He has been an innovator, an initiator, a creator, a provocateur, a leader, a mentor, a passionate artist and a loyal friend to many in the theatre world. With every project he has undertaken, his tremendous intelligence, inextinguishable energy, and unique imagination have been fully evident. He has shown great courage and ceaseless determination in the face of all the many challenges Canadian artists face, and have faced, over the years of our collective history. Sprung is unarguably firmly established in the canon of Canadian Theatre. It is not without reason that Gaëtan Charlebois wrote in Montréal's Hour Magazine that "Sprung is... at the forefront of the promotion of new authors and plays in this country," and that Matt Radz wrote in The Gazette that "If there was a Great Book of Canadian Theatre, Sprung's picture would head the Cutting Edge chapter."

Mr. Sprung has been a prolific builder, even from his early days at McGill University where he was President of the McGill Players' Club, directing and/or producing over 40 productions, and also founding Theatre XV which had as a member of the company the now world renown American playwright, David Mamet. Shortly after graduating Mr. Sprung founded and became the first Artistic Director of the Half Moon Theatre in London, England, which still thrives today as a hub of theatrical activity combining professional productions with youth training and community outreach. One of Sprung's greatest legacies to Canadian theatre was the conception and founding of the Dream In High Park, Toronto's annual free outdoor Shakespeare festival which averages 50,000 spectators a year. This tremendously popular event has brought extraordinary outreach to the community, has been the inspiration for many other similar festivals across the country, and continues to thrive to this day. Mr. Sprung was also the Co-Founder of the Canadian Stage Company, a dream he shared with the late Bill Glassco, and one which together they made a reality. CanStage is now the largest not-for-profit contemporary theatre company in Canada.

Sprung's International reputation is far-reaching. Before founding the Half Moon Theatre in London, England, he was an Assistant Director at the Schiller Theater in Berlin, where he gained tremendous experience working with some of Germany's best-known actors and directors in one of the largest repertory theatres in the world. As director of the wildly popular Balconville by David Fennario, Sprung traveled with the company on an international tour to England and Ireland. In 1990 Mr. Sprung was invited to direct A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Pushkin Theatre in Russian in Moscow. The production ran in repertory for eleven years to sold-out houses. Then, in 2001, his Montréal theatre company, Infinithéâtre, was invited to represent Québec and Canada at the Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theatre in Egypt, with its bilingual production of Beckett's Endgame/Fin de partie. Sprung created the bilingual version, directed the production, and also played the part of Nagg when Québec's beloved actor, the late Marc Gélinas, was in too poor health to play the role he originated. Sprung is perfectly fluent in both French and German, works easily in three languages, and even became proficient enough in Russian while in Moscow to direct in that language.

As a director, it is rare to see an individual who excels equally in the classics as in new, untried work. Numerous masterpieces of the stage (too many to mention) were directed by Sprung as a free-lance director across Canada, while at the Half Moon Theatre, while Artistic Director at The Toronto Free Theatre (which, under his seven-year leadership, became one of the most dynamic and innovative theatres in the country and played to virtually sold-out houses for twelve months of the year), at The Canadian Stage Company, as Associate Director at the Stratford Festival, and as Interim Artistic Director of the Vancouver Playhouse, at many training institutions such as the National Theatre School and the Conservatoire d'art dramatique, and now through his Montréal company Infinithéâtre. The new Canadian plays that Sprung brought to fruition as a producer, through dramaturgy and by directing their award-winning premieres, are now household names in the Canadian repertoire: Balconville, Nothing to Lose, Les Canadiens, Paper Wheat, Quiet In The Land, Doc, Donut City, Thunder Perfect Mind, How Could You Mrs. Dick?, L'Affaire Tartuffe, Sliding In All Directions, Food/Bouffe, Barnacle Wood, and Long, Long, Short, Long (first in English with Infinithéâtre, then as, Le Pont, in French at the Compagnie Jean Duceppe at Place des Arts), to name only a few.

Recently, Sprung has brought his tremendous vitality, his broad vision, his unceasing determination and unique vision to the artistic management of Infinithéâtre, described by Hélène Jacques in Jeu as one of the most vital theatre companies in Montréal. With its mandate to support, develop, produce, and broker new work by Québec writers, the company has made a tremendous difference to artists all over the city, giving young creators opportunities unheard of a decade ago, and inspiring the larger companies in this city to follow suit. Two of Infinithéâtre's productions won the prestigious soirées des masques award for Best English-Language Production. Writes Amy Barratt in Hour, "Infinithéâtre has become an essential feature on the artistic lo bridge the gap between the proverbial 'two solitudes' in this city by producing bilingual work, mixing artists originating from Anglo, Allo and Franco communities. The doyen of Montréal theatre critics, Hervé Guay of Le Devoir, in his September 18, 2007 review of Infinithéâtre's production of That Woman went so far as to make the stunning assertion that the Montréal public needed Infinithéâtre as much as it needed the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde.

One of Mr. Sprung's greatest talents has always been the ability to identify, and then nourish young talent, and he does so without regard for established reputation or financial resources. He has a way of making things happen when he believes they have merit. As an example, in 2003 he flew directly from Winnipeg where he had directed a $800,000+ production of Richard III starring William Hurt at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, back to Montréal where he then directed a new play by the entirely unknown young writer, Jason Maghanoy, at the Montréal Fringe Festival with a production budget of $400. The nurturing venture paid off. Mr. Maghanoy was subsequently invited to join the National Theatre School Playwriting section and his first full professional production after he graduated was the hit of Infinithéâtre's 2007-08 season, GAS. As a producer Mr. Sprung has placed together individuals of outstanding caliber, particularly writers and actors, who have gone on to win many awards: Governor Generals, Dora Mavor Moores, Soirées des Masques and Chalmers. Vancouver playwright Michael Groberman writes that "Canada is fortunate that Guy Sprung has chosen to focus so much attention on the development of new scripts. Montréal is also fortunate that Québec plays written in English have such a valuable ally."

In closing, there is the personal loyalty that Guy Sprung has for the people he works with, a loyalty which is returned in kind. The following is a testament from David Fennario: "...theatre comes first to Guy Sprung, even before his own self interests, because of his love of our chosen art form. It's this commitment to theatre that is the source of Guy's talent as a director, teacher and producer. It's what makes him special. It's what makes his productions special. He will always serve the artist first."