Why Michael Quinn Is Philadelphia’s Next Big Deal

by Melissa Jacobs

Michael Quinn is more likely to tell you what’s wrong with his work than what’s right about it. But a slew of critical accolades and a fistful of prestigious awards point to a literary truth: Michael Quinn is one of the most talented playwrights of his generation.

Quinn, who was raised in Villanova and graduated from St. Joe’s Prep before attending Boston College, was shortlisted for the 2024 Yale Drama Prize for his play “The River East,” which was also a semifinalist in the 2026 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Another of Quinn’s plays was shortlisted for Druid Debuts 2024 at the Druid Theatre in Galway, Ireland. Yet another Quinn-penned play was a semifinalist in the 2025 Great Plains Theatre Commons New Play Festival in Omaha, Nebraska.

But it’s his first play, “Get It Together,” that takes center stage from Sept. 4 – 14 at The Arden Theatre as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. The story follows Mary and Harold, who first met at a dance at Merion Mercy Academy in Merion Station. Years later, while home from college, they reconnect at a house party in Wynnewood. Are they soulmates?

Problem is, Harold has a girlfriend. “Harold and his girlfriend are in a miserable long distance relationship,” Quinn explained. “But Mary and Harold realize that they don’t  often meet someone when they are being their authentic selves.” Then, Harold disappears. Two years, he comes back into Mary’s life claiming that he’s never stopped thinking about her. Will Mary let Harold into her life? Can they truly connect? What is real intimacy anyway?

The tale of the romantic tryst and twist has captivated people since Quinn first wrote the play during his college days. In 2019, “Get It Together” was selected for the New Voices drama competition at Boston College. The next year, right in the middle of 2020’s pandemic, Quinn got an email from a young woman who found the script online and was staging a backyard, socially-distanced production of it in North Jersey. Quinn and his dad drove to her house to see it. “It was flattering, even though it was a stripped down, COVID version of it,” Quinn said.

That woman – Andie Lerner – is now the director of “Get It Together” at the Arden Theatre. Quinn’s story also resonated with Hadley Durkey, a classmate of Quinn’s from Boston College. Durkey told Quinn that a friend in Los Angeles wanted to produce a play – and she’d always like his. In 2022, they produced “Get It Together” at Zephyr Theater in West Hollywood. Quinn directed the play, which starred Durkey and Joseph Basquill. “Get It Together” had a successful, two-week run at the Zephyr. “It was a strong turnout, especially for my first time in California,” Quinn said.

In 2024, Quinn and his cohorts took the play to New York, renting The Siggy, a 46-seat theater inside The Flea Theater in Tribeca. With a freshly rewritten second act for “Get It Together,” Quinn felt confident about his play, its producers and their actors. The results: 90% of the tickets sold and seven of the 10 shows were sold out.

“It may have taken 6 ½ years, but now, I’m really happy with ‘Get It Together’,” Quinn said.  “Being in New York with the show was awesome. It was what I always wanted to do – and I was doing it.”

One of the people who came to see the show at The Siggy was Nick Hatcher, an artistic associate at Arden Theatre Company. Hatcher thought the play would be a perfect fit for Philadelphia’s Fringe Arts Festival, and he was right. The Philly Fringe production of “Get It Together” stars Philadelphia actors Maddy Gillespie and John Fioravanti, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Quinn. But Quinn said that the character of Harold is not based on him, and neither is Mary.

“Get It Together” is not autobiographical, but it is about Quinn’s understanding of love, which has changed as he’s gotten older. He incorporated those changes into the play as it traveled with him from college into his 20s.

“When I first wrote ‘Get It Together,’ I thought I was writing about a perfect love,” Quinn said. “I’m a romantic, so I romanticized it. Then I realized that these people should not be together. As I get older, I see the reality of the different actions of life, your relationships and the things we all do wrong. Anyway, it’s more interesting to write about people making mistakes and trying to correct them.”

“Get It Together,” Sept. 4 – 14, Arden Theatre, Philadelphia

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