McKenna Kelly-Eiding, Marika Proctor, and Ricardo Beaird. Photo by Petronella J. Ytsma
While this may be her first foray on the Park Square stage, Marika Proctor is no stranger to the Saint Paul playhouse, having been born and raised in the capital. Like so many actors, however, she’s experienced her fair share of travels – attending the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington and more recently, the professional actor training program at the Actors Theatre of Louisville in Kentucky, home to the world-renowned Humana Festival of New American Plays, where she was featured in the play, You Across From Me.
This summer, however, Proctor returns to Minnesota and is excited to share the wild adventure of Baskerville with her home audiences. As for what they come away with Proctor says, ” I hope they feel they’ve had an excellent night of theater — imaginative and creative and satisfying.”
Those three words encapsulate the Ken Ludwig play, first performed in 2015, but making it’s Minnesota premiere at Park Square. For her part, Proctor is one of three actors tasked with the feat of portraying close to forty different characters! She is thrilled by how the play relishes the sense of fun and mystery.
I’m really excited by the sense of play that Theo’s [Langason, Director] brought to the room—I’ll definitely keep this in mind as I figure out how to jump from character to character to character.
Marika Proctor
It’s that sense of play and challenge that Proctor brings to all of her roles. Past Twin Cities’ credits include One Man, Two Guvnors at Yellow Tree Theatre where Lavender Magazine said, “Marika Proctor teases and delights in a crossgender turn.” She has worked with Savage Umbrella and several shows with Classical Actors Ensemble, including the direction of a Comedy of Errors that garnered positive reviews from the Star Tribune and City Pages.
With such a rich and varied background in the theatre, what else could Proctor possibly do to fill her time? She says she writes part time for a consulting firm specializing in archaeology, cultural planning and exhibit development for museums and national parks. If variety is the spice of life, then Proctor is doing something right!
You can come along for the ride too when you see her in Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery at Park Square this summer! The show runs now until August 5, so don’t wait!
McKenna Kelly-Eiding, Marika Proctor. Photo by Petronella J. Ytsma
. A lover of serenity, cooking and Jack Sparrow, there’s more to this pirate than meets the eye!
When Henry and Alice: Into the Wild opens the season at Park Square there will be a familiar face in the cast – Carolyn Pool! A veteran of not only Park Square, Pool has been seen on many stages in Minneapolis and Saint Paul working with such esteemed companies as Illusion Theatre, Penumbra, Theatre Mu, Pillsbury House and countless new works at the Playwrights’ Center. She says, however, that Park Square has been a defining feature of her artistic work with such credits as August, Osage County, Proof, The Sisters Rosenweig, and Born Yesterday. The first time she tread the Park Square boards it wasn’t even at the current location in the Hamm Building, but at the old Lowertown venue in School for Wives.
Carolyn Pool and John Middleton in the rehearsal hall last week (photo by Connie Shaver)
Right now at Park Square, you can catch the mystery-thriller of the summer, 
From Madison, Wisconsin, she attended Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, receiving her B.A. in acting. Immediately after graduation, she moved on up to the Twin Cities to pursue a career in the theatre. In her time here she has firmly established herself as a performer and collaborator, working with such noted companies as Minnesota Jewish Theatre, History Theatre, Theatre Latte Da, Walking Shadow and Frank Theatre. If that’s not enough, she is a core and founding member of Transatlantic Love Affair, a group that has earned a bevy of recognition in recent years. She now finds herself within the ranks of Girl Friday Productions and the grand cast of
