ABOUT MARTICE ENTERPRISES

Miranda Martinez	Marco Rodriguez

Miranda Martinez and Marco Rodriguez are the producers behind Martice Enterprises. Miranda was born in the Republic of Panama and obtained a Bachelor's of Business Administration degree in marketing from Southern Methodist University. After graduating from SMU, she worked in corporate America and although she still makes ends meet working in that world, she soon realized that the business world wasn't what she wanted to do and decided to follow her heart and go back to performing---her first love. Miranda is very active working in local voice-overs, tv commercials and independent films.

Marco Rodriguez, a Dominican native of New York City, holds an Master of Fine Arts in Acting from Southern Methodist University and has been living in Dallas for the last 6 years. He's a professional actor that has done work for such Dallas companies as Dallas Theater Center, Kitchen Dog, Soul Rep, Cara Mia, Our Endeavors, and Teatro Dallas. Marco has performed all over the US, including Latinologues at San Diego Rep, and countries such as Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. He's also very active working in voice-overs, tv commercials and independent films. As a teacher Marco has taught at public and private institutions as well as the university level.

Marco and Miranda met in 1999 while working together on stage. Martice was originally founded by Miranda to promote seminars and workshops for actors. Since 2000, Martice has brought Todd Justice (formerly with ICM) from Los Angeles’ McCabe-Justice’s talent agency, Amy Jo Berman, Director of Feature Casting for HBO’s Original Films, Paul Ryan, a Los Angeles' Comedy Acting Coach, and Rick Najera, Hollywood Latino screenwriter and playwright. Mr. Najera's seminar in Dallas took place in conjunction with a performance of another theatre company's production of LATINOLOGUES’ in Fort Worth. At the time, Marco was LATINOLOGUES' lead actor. As popular as the performances were in Fort Worth, there were people in the Dallas community who didn’t have the opportunity to see this amazing show. That’s when Marco and Miranda decided to produce a full run of the show independently, thus creating Martice Enterprises - the production company. Martice's LATINOLOGUES performed to sold-out crowds and critical praise during June, 2002. This production won Martice Enterprises a BEST DEBUT BY A NEW ACTING COMPANY award in the Dallas Observer’s Best of Dallas edition 2002 and a TOP 5 Productions of 2002 award by The Dallas Voice.

Martice's next production was the sold-out staged reading of BUFORD GOMEZ: TALES OF A RIHT-WING BORDER PATROL OFFICER in July, 2002 at the KERA studios. The staged reading was produced in association with Teatro Dallas and it was a huge success. In December 2002, Martice also produced LATINOLOGUES: HAVE A JALAPEÑO NAVI-CHRISTMAS! a one-night only affair with music, food and silent auction benefiting Latino Cultural Center for Arts and Letters, again to a sold-out crowd. In February 2003, Martice produced the full-production of the Southwest Premiere of BUFORD GOMEZ: TALES OF A RIGHT-WING BORDER PATROL OFFICER, once again to sold-out crowds.

At the same time LATINOLOGUES Christmas and BUFORD GOMEZ were being produced, Martice had also started pre-production of their biggest undertaking: an Off-Broadway hit salsa musical called LA LUPE: MY LIFE, MY DESTINY. Because of the magnitude of this show, funds needed to be raised right away. It took Martice 2 years to raise money to produce LA LUPE. Martice decided to develop a little show of their own to keep cost low in order to raise funds for LA LUPE. Pico de Gallo: The Comedy con Spice! was written by Martice's own team of writers consisting of Chris Espinosa, a comedian/writer founder of Sky Rocket Press and Israel Luna, a screenwriter/director founder of La Luna Entertainment, a film production company. PICO DE GALLO was also written by Martice's own Marco Rodriguez (who had never written prior to PICO) and Oscar Contreras, an actor/director who had written some before but had never been produced. PICO DE GALLO was also Oscar Contreras' directorial debut. Martice met with the writers to discuss what the show was going to be about. There was only one idea on the table. The show was going to feature a drag queen as the main character. When the original professional 'drag queen' dropped out of the show, director Contreras stepped up to the plate and played the sassy and lovable drag queen. To Martice's delight, Contrera's Chula Cholula and Pico de Gallo was a hit, with sold-out shows and critical acclaim. Martice developed a Christmas version of Pico de Gallo, which performed for one night on December 11 2003. Martice has also performed Pico de Gallo for Southern Methodist University, FDIC and Hispanic Women's Network.

LA LUPE: MY LIFE, MY DESTINY by New York playwright Carmen Rivera, was Martice's Summer 2004 musical hit. This was only the second time this show has ever been produced and the Dallas production turned out to be a much bigger production than the one in New York. Martice assembled local top artists, including director, performers, musicians, crew, set, lighting and sound technicians to bring this Off-Broadway hit back to life. It was Martice's first ever musical and drama. LA LUPE: MY LIFE, MY DESTINY debuted in New York City in 2001.

The Greatest Hits! in September 2004, PICO DE GALLO: THE COMEDY CON SPICE! - the original show - in December 2004, LATINOLOGUES with Rick Najera, a brand new PICO DE GALLO: THE RETURN OF THE QUEEN! in July 2005 and Cantinflas! in the Fall 2005 followed Martice's early success.

Martice came back in the fall of 2007 with HEAVEN FORBID(S)!, a brand-new original show written by and starring Marco along with the amazing Rhianna Mack. The show was another hit for Martice, earning them the Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum's Award for OUTSTANDING NEW PLAY.