Lib Spry

Lib Spry is a Canadian director, playwright, and academic. She is a co-founder of Company of Sirens and Straight Stitching Productions and served as the artistic director of Passionate Balance.

Lib Spry
Years active	1986-pres.
Known for	Co-founder of Company of Sirens
Parents	Graham Spry (father) Irene Spry (mother)

Career

In 1986, Spry co-founded the feminist theatre company, Company of Sirens, with Lina Chartrand, Aida Jordão, Catherine Glen, Shawna Dempsey, and Cynthia Grant.^[1] With Company of Sirens, Spry created the play, The Working People's Picture Show, which was first staged in 1987.^[2][3] With Shirley Barrie, Spry co-founded Straight Stitching Productions in 1989.^[4] Spry served as the artistic director of the Ottawa-based theatre company, Passionate Balance. In 1992, she co-developed, with Rob Thompson, the play Collateral Damages. The play used techniques of the Theatre of the Oppressed.^[5]

In 2012, Spry directed Where the Blood Mixes by Kevin Loring.^[6][7] In 2013, Spry was set to direct the mini-musical, Marg Szkaluba (Pissy's Wife), written by Ron Chambers, at the Rialto Theatre in Montreal; however, the show was indefinitely postponed when the show's star, Carolyn Fe, became ill.^[8]

Spry has taught at the University of Ottawa, Queen's University, and Concordia University. She currently teaches at McGill University.^[9]

Personal life

Spry has an MFA in creative writing from Goddard College^[9] and a PhD in cultural studies from Queen's University. Her parents are Graham and Irene Spry and she has two brothers named Robin and Richard.^[10]

Plays

• Bungsu and the Big Snake
• Collateral Damages (co-written with Rob Thompson)
• Peace and Plenty (co-written with Peggy Sample)
• Playing Robin Hood
• A Princess Never Should
• Trance for Matron^[11]
• The Working People's Picture Show (co-created with Lina Chartrand, Aida Jordão, Catherine Glen, Shawna Dempsey, and Cynthia Grant)