NORTH CENTER — Under most circumstances, kidnapping your wife and selling her into the sex trade would be considered a criminal offense.
But for Eric Parks, it's all part of his job description.
Parks and Cristina Panfilio, who've been married for the past year-and-a-half, are co-starring in Chicago Shakespeare Theater's current production of "Pericles," the script for which requires Parks to manhandle his spouse nine times a week.
Panfilio and Parks discuss what it's like to be married and on stage together:
"I'm just trying to earn some money," Parks said of his character, a pirate, which is one of multiple parts he tackles in the play.
Panfilio, in the role of Marina, takes the abduction in stride, happy just to be sharing the stage with her husband.
The couple has been together for a decade but spent most of that time apart as they each chased acting gigs across the country.
"We know what it feels like to not be in the same city," Panfilio said. "We've done the long-distance thing."
Parks, a native of Oregon, and Panfilio, who hails from the Chicago suburbs, met at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she was an undergrad from 2001 to 2005 and he was a grad student.
"We were friends for two years" before becoming romantically involved, she said.
"I sort of wanted to date her those whole two years," Parks recalled.
"I had a boyfriend," Panfilio explained.
"I didn't care," Parks countered.
Though playful banter comes easily to the two, they rarely have the opportunity to act directly opposite one another, the occasional kidnapping aside.
That's about to change in upcoming productions of "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "The Hound of the Baskervilles," the latest in a string of nearly a dozen shows in which Parks and Panfilio have been jointly cast.
"Once we graduated, we did nothing together for seven years," Panfilio said. "Then we did one ... then almost all."
Working in the same production minimally avoids the awkwardness that could set in when one partner in an acting couple is nabbing acclaimed roles (see: Reese Witherspoon) and the other isn't (see: Ryan Phillippe), though Panfilio and Parks insist they're not competitive with one another.
"We're not ever up for the same parts — he's twice my size and a boy," Panfilio said, pointing out the obvious.
"We're really great at celebrating each other's successes," she added. "He's my favorite actor in the world, why wouldn't I want to see him act?"
On a more practical note, in a two-actor household, having at least one spouse gainfully employed is a win for the team, they said.
"We need that person to work," Parks said.
For a couple whose chosen profession frequently calls for them to pick up at a moment's notice and live out of a suitcase for months at a time, Panfilio and Parks are surprisingly settled, calling themselves homebodies.
They landed in North Center by accident, leasing an apartment sight unseen, and eventually wound up buying a condo across from Trader Joe's, where they can be found on a near daily basis when in town.
Should television or film roles arise, Parks said a move to New York or Los Angeles would be temporary.
"I don't ever see us not calling Chicago home," he said.
Panfilio is carving out a niche narrating audiobooks — she's done 15 already, ranging from Young Adult to suspense to Harlequin romance — and Parks is increasingly interested in pursuing directing.
With their relationship to anchor them, the two said they take everything else as it comes, with no grand plan or goal in mind.
"Theres no rhyme or reason" to the choices he's made, Parks said.
When asked if there's a fellow actor whose trajectory she'd like to emulate, Panfilio was stumped.
"There isn't a career out there or someone else's life I'd like to copy," she said. "This life is great."
"Pericles" runs through Jan. 18 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave. Tickets are still available for upcoming shows and start at $58.
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