Erin Murray Quinlan (Erin) is a published playwright and composer, with credits Off-Broadway (‘God Save Queen Pam’), elsewhere in NYC, London, and beyond. She is an alumna of Berklee College of Music, the EAMA Nadia Boulanger Institute in Paris, University of Oxford, and the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theater Workshop. This is her first show at the Fringe. Find out more at www.erinmurrayquinlan.com.
How did you get involved with Brain Hemingway?
There is a much longer answer, but the short answer is I wrote it.
What is your history with the Fringe?
This is my first show at the Fringe, but I admire a lot of acts that have histories with it, particularly The League of Gentleman. I’m looking forward to following in their singularly creepy footsteps.
What is your favorite play/musical?
I have seen ‘The Woman in Black’ ten times in London as of writing this. I have two copies of the script and I make my husband act it out with me. I drink my coffee from a Woman in Black coffee mug. If I find out you haven’t seen it, I will book tickets on the spot and stare at you while you watch. I cannot stop. I will not stop.
Who is the celebrity who lives rent free in your head?
It’s Ernest Hemingway and I can’t emphasize how annoyed I am by this. I wish it were David Bowie.
What have you missed most about live theater?
There’s a very specific sound that happens at a lot of shows, I tend to think at the National, particularly when lights go up on a new scene. It’s a loud sound, and it can’t be replicated anywhere else, and I love it. The lights go up on a new scene and its kind of a CHUNK or a PHHHHOP, like stadium lights, reverberating in the space. Gives me chills.
What is your go to coping mechanism when you’re overwhelmed?
I’m like the Hulk; I am always overwhelmed.
Combination shampoo/conditioner: yes or no?
I’m going to be a nerd and quote Richard E. Grant in Arabella Weir’s ‘Posh Nosh’: Never ever buy something that calls itself both a shampoo and conditioner. It won’t do either.