School of Theatre Arts

After four years in residence as a Instructor/Visiting Interim Assistant Professor for the School of Theatre Arts and two years as Assistant Professor, Mr. Quinn is now an Associate Professor for the School of Theatre Arts. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, which focus on Acting, Shakespeare & On Camera has served as the BFA Acting Liaison, and hopes to cultivate the study of Acting for the Camera in SoTA. His IWU directing credits include William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Into the Woods, Scrooge! the musical, An Enemy of the People, Lysistrata, Trojan Women and The Children's Hour.

He began his study of theatre at DePaul University’s Goodman School of Drama, and then entered the acting profession for a twenty-year stint before returning to study at Illinois State University, where he finished his B.S. in Theatre and earned an M.F.A. in Acting. 

Mr. Quinn has appeared on a host of stages around the country.  At the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., where for two years he was a member of the resident acting company, he played such roles as Yang Sun in Brecht’s The Good Person of Setzuan, directed by Garland Wright, and Zamiotov in Crime and Punishment, directed by Yuri Lubimov, founder of the world-renown Tagonka Theatre of Moscow.  Other theatre credits include Center Stage in Baltimore, The Goodman, Briar Street, Steppenwolf, Commons, and Drury Lane in Chicago, New Stage in Jackson Mississippi and The American Inside Theatre in Milwaukee.  He has created over sixty roles for the professional stage and dozens more for academic theatre. On television, Mr. Quinn co-starred as Dr. Peter Stern in the dramatic mini-series, Burden of Proof, written by Scott Turrow for ABC.

A three-time nominee for the Irene Ryan Acting Award and winner of the Princess Grace Foundation USA Actor’s Award, he maintains a steady involvement in the theatre, both academic and professional, as an actor, director, writer and teacher.  Locally, he has appeared on stage as a student of Illinois State University, a guest artist at Bradley University, with Summer Studio at the University of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign, the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, at the Theatre at Monmouth and Clarence Brown Theatres while on junior faculty leave in 2012. 

Education

M.F.A. & B.S., Illinois State University

Additional Training

Certified DaVinci Resolve trainer

Professional Affiliations

Actors' Equity Association