By Mary Damiano

Ricky J. Martinez is the ultimate in theatrical hyphenation, an actor-singer-dancer-choreographer-playwright-director-artistic director. These days he’s wearing three of his hats, artistic director of New Theatre, director, and proud playwright of the theatre’s production of Sin Full Heaven, which runs through February 11.

	It’s a good time to be Ricky J. Martinez: The Artistic Director of New Theatre is directing the world premiere of his play, Sin Full Heaven

“I don’t consider myself one or the other,” says Martinez, 34, of his many identities.  “I’m a conglomeration.  I just shift my focus to whichever one I’m doing at the moment.”

“It’s sort of Romeo and Juliet meets The Tempest set in the Caribbean,” says Martinez.

Martinez did not plan to direct his own play.  The hired director had to drop out, and when a replacement could not be found, he donned his director’s hat and got to work.  He hired Tara Vodihn as his assistant director and dramaturg and got to work.

“I was scared, but this has been the most wonderful experience I’ve had in ages,” Martinez says. 

Things went so smoothly that at times, Martinez forgot just how many hats he was wearing.

“For world premieres we usually have three weeks of rehearsal, and that first week we try to bring the playwright down or have time to e-mail them or call them,” Martinez says.  “In this case, I forgot that it was my play.  I’d think, I have to call the playwright, and then, oh, yeah, I’m the playwright.”

The trilogy of plays, “In God’s Land”, has been 12 years in the making; Martinez spent four years writing Sin Full Heaven.

	Marta Valasco, Stephen Neal, Frank Rodriguez, and Samara Siskind, the cast of Sin Full Heaven, which runs through February 11 at New Theatre in Coral Gables Photo: Eileen Suarez

“I’ve been very patient to try to get it right,” Martinez says.  “I wanted to get it performed first but my bigger dream is to get it published.”

Although several theatres around the country are interested in producing Martinez’s plays. Sin Full Heaven is making its world premiere at New Theatre.  Shotgun Productions, which has done staged readings of each play in the trilogy, is planning a New York production for Sin Full Heaven in September.  Eventually, Shotgun Productions would like to produce the whole trilogy as a cycle.

Patricia Klausner, co-artistic and managing director of Shotgun Productions, says she was captivated by Martinez’s style.

“I fell in love with the work,” says Klausner.  “I felt this was a piece of poetry; the language really intrigued me.  The way Ricky turns phrases is just amazing.”

“Ricky has a lot to say about Cuba,” says Klausner.  "I know it’s a Caribbean island, but Ricky is Cuban-American, and when I read it, to me the young couple represented hope, a break from tyranny.”

Martinez is a native Miamian.  His mother was a ballerina in Cuba who encouraged her children toward the arts, even though it was against her husband’s wishes.  Martinez has been involved in many aspects of the performing arts since he was 8 years old, writing plays, doing theatre and performing in commercials.  Her mother took him to dance classes in secret,  telling her son not to tell his father.  He tried out for Julliard on a lark, unaware of the prestige the school carries, and not only got in, but was offered a full scholarship.  But his father objected to him going to New York, and he turned down Juilliard, attending New World School of the Arts instead.

	Samara Siskind and Frank Rodriguez in Sin Full Heaven Photo by Eileen Suarez

He started writing his trilogy during his last year at New World as a way to explore his own identity as a first generation American and as a man a Cuban descent in Miami. 

“I realized that I felt displaced, because of my heritage,” Martinez says.  “I was searching for the thing that would make me feel both of them equally and be happy.”

He also says that although he had written plays in the past, the trilogy helped him evolve as a playwright.

“It got me clear on my voice,” says Martinez.  “It was the beginning rumblings of knowing where my voice is going to go.”

Martinez is a tireless supporter of theatre in South Florida, attending productions in all three counties, even though he doesn’t drive. He believes that if he had gone to school in New York, he would have turned into a number, whereas staying in Miami allowed him to grow as a performer and as a person.

“That’s fueled me to stay here and work and not have the need to go anywhere else,” Martinez says.  “I’m so prideful of everybody here who stays here and makes their living here.  I’m an avid supporter of people who choose to stay here to make their living.  We don’t have to compare ourselves to New York.  We’re a different breed.”

As for his world premiere, Martinez is looking forward to the production’s opening night on January 20.

“I can’t wait until it opens so I can just sit in the back of the theatre and cry,” Martinez says.  "This is such a dream come true.”