There is this common saying that when you are a jack of all trades, you are a master of none.

Now I don’t know if it’s true, but well, that’s what people commonly say these days.

And if you want to be like the common people, you might just accept that misnomer and carry on with your life. That’s what Pulp would do, and it’s definitely what William Shatner would do.

But if you were to do a little digging, like me, a rebel without a pause, you might be pleasantly surprised to learn that one of the earliest uses of jack of all trades did not include that second clause of the phrase, and that one of the earliest recorded uses of the term was applied towards William Shakespeare by Robert Greene. Greene is famous primarily for a book he wrote entitled Greene’s Groats-Worth of Wit and in which attacks Shakespeare with that phrase.

The more you know eh?

So anyways, there is this notion out there that having many talents and being something of a generalist is bad while being a specialist is good. But creative cuties, let me set the record straight once and for all, rules are made to be broken.

And as I am prone to do with timotheories interviews, I’m going to prove once again that there are many paths to artistic freedom, and that I’m friends with a visionary artist that is capable of more than just the triple threat. That’s right, this gentleman can sing, dance, act, improvise, perform magic, AND do all of the functional components of theatre too. He directs, produces and writes all while running the business of his five year running company Grindstone Theatre.

Welcome to January 2017 dear readers, because I give you Byron Trevor Martin, the artistic director and founder of Grindstone Theatre, and the soon to be owner-operator of the Grindstone Comedy Theatre building located on Whyte avenue and 104 street in Edmonton. Byron is a visionary, pure and simple. And I sat down with him to explain how he’s managed to achieve so much, all while avoiding specialization in the performance arts.

Byron inherently subscribes to the the accelerated learning “20 hour” rule. Whenever he needs to learn a new skill, he squeezes in the essentials and then spends the rest of his time on what he loves – His passion for theatre and community.

A many of many hats, Byron Martin is the perfect incarnation of what jack of all trades should mean, a means to a vision. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you episode fourteen of timotheories interviews.

And as always, if you want to check out more timotheories interviews or the Cross Talk series please visit our YouTube channel.  And please, please, please share this post and of course subscribe to both the blog and channel!

Of course, if you REALLY want to reach Byron you can do so here – Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Lastly my sincerest thanks to Byron for being beautiful, beneficent, bold, and badass. See you tomorrow with an album review by USS.

Tim!