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"John is, as they say, the salt of the earth. He's just a very good guy, which is probably something he wouldn't want me to say. He'd probably want me to say that he's a modern-day James Dean. A bad boy.

"But, nothing could be further from the truth.

"John's the only person I know who actually drives the speed limit. That's right. Most of us go five or 10 or even 15 kilometres per hour above the speed limit. John goes EXACTLY the speed limit. It drives me crazy.

"When we played touch football years ago, if John got tagged and the referee missed it, John would stop and say, 'He tagged me.' Again, it drove me crazy.

"So, that's it. John is a very, very nice guy. That is probably the best and the worst thing I could say about him.

"Also, I think his play, Between Friends, has a very good chance to be produced again and again on Canadian stages. It's that good."

Norm Foster

John Spurway's friend

***

"I came to know John through Norm Foster.

"I've been working with Norm several years on his new plays. Norm sent John's script to me and asked me for an honest opinion. I was impressed with John's ear for dialogue and his attention to detail. The script needed some work, but it showed great promise, so I decided to work with John on developing it further.

"I had a couple of reasons for programming Between Friends in Lighthouse's 2008 season: First, it's a very good story with lots of humour and I think our audience is going to identify with its life truth. Second, this is John's first play, and in my career I've always been committed to working with emerging artists.

"I think John has a real career ahead of him as a playwright. In fact, I've already offered to work with him on his second play.

"Personally, John's a great guy. He's real down-to-earth and lots of fun to spend time with. I've spent a lot of time with Norm Foster over the years, having some great laughs over a few beers.

"The time I've spent with John recently has been a lot like that. I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time with him. It's just too bad his golf game isn't a little better."

Chris McHarge

Artistic director,

Lighthouse Festival Theatre

***

"He has to be one of the most loyal and dedicated and trustworthy people I know. If John is your friend, he is behind you 100 per cent regardless, non-judgmental. He is just incredible that way. I've never met anybody in my life that is so nice. It's a wonderful quality. And he's very funny. He makes me laugh and I believe him.

"I just think he's great. We've been married almost 30 years and I've been very fortunate. I've worked outside the home and he actually worked inside the home for the last 10 years of our lives or whatever.

"He's just awesome. Things are equal around the house, but they have to be as we both have such weird hours.

"But he's your typical male. He likes his sports on TV and a beer in the afternoon and his guy friends."

Margot Daley-Spurway

Spurway's wife