Byron Trevor Martin

The Man With Many Hats (Byron Martin interview)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

 

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.

c_scalefl_progressiveq_80w_800

 

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!

The Late Night Show (11 O’Clock Number)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

We sit down, the lights dim, when very suddenly a charming guy in a suit jacket steps out into the spotlight, and then he heads over towards the keyboard. As he sits down, he gives pause for about 10 seconds before his posture lifts up, he grabs the microphone, and jumps into a riffed delivery of a powerful line…

It’s Friday night ladies and gentleman! I hope you’re ready! Please welcome the cast of the 11 O’Clock Number!

12105746_964110933635325_6233303473230051314_n

An ensemble of 20-somethings (sometimes early 30’s) explode out of various areas of the stage and break into song right as the music amps up. If you haven’t been to one of their shows before, this can be a bit surprising, if you have, then it’s a comforting spectacle which precedes something which I can assure you, no one has ever seen before.

I write it this way because every show is literally unique!

If you haven’t been to the 11 O’Clock Number before, you are in luck, as the Grindstone Theatre production has just started it’s 4th season about a month ago. The show takes place every Friday, at 11 PM incidentally, at Edmonton’s very own Backstage Theatre (10330 84 Ave NW) between the early months of fall until the beginning of summer, almost without fail.

Admittedly, I’ve been fortunate enough to have experienced this improvised musical more times than I can count at this point for the previous season. And a handful of times throughout seasons 1 and 2.

Why am I telling you about this event you ask, dear readers?

Because it’s pretty damn awesome and a wonderful way to experience live theatre in Edmonton and to kick off the weekend. The fact that the show is on at 11 at night has almost assured that a cult following would develop, because in my experience, theatre doesn’t usually happen that late. At least not here. In Edmonton. Canada’s “Festival City.” WTF.

But that doesn’t tell you much about the show itself!

The Number, the pet name commonly known to it’s cast and adherents, tells a different story every Friday night. Using a group of 5-7 performers, always accompanied on keyboard and usually by Erik Mortimer or a guest, and sometimes on drums by Curtis Den Otter, is a show for the audience and by the audience.

How the Artistic Director, Byron Trevor Martin, accomplishes this, is quite demonstrative of his own ability to adapt and help drive the story forward when he participates in the shows himself.

There are a number of formats that the cast employs to set up the show – from their directors cut (with a narrator making comments and who also directs the show from behind the scenes), to the musical mixer (short form improv, followed by a condensed long form second half),  the classic format (creating a show from audience suggestions), life is a musical (an audience member tells their life story and it’s acted out), the costumed musical (the cast does a poll and comes up with a theme), or the wild card show (cards that can effect the story are given to audience members, who shout them out at will).

All of the themes are employed to effectively set up a show on the spot and by this same token it informs the performers so that they can tell a long form improvised play that features improvised songs throughout. Sometimes the songs are performed by one person, other times we’ll see a duet, and then we might see an epic performance which features all members of the cast, but whatever the inspiration, it’s always played to comedic effect.

These are funny stories.

Sometimes they are weird stories, but they are always funny stories.

I’ve even attended their classes and learned some improv skills myself. This theatre company has provided tremendous value for the local community in other ways too. They host an “Open Jam” on the last Tuesday of every month at the Holy Trinity Church (10037 – 84 Avenue) as well as co-hosting The Social Scene with Citadel Theatre every month.

Like I said, tremendous value to the local community, especially to theatre artists.

So what do you think? Are you interested in checking out The Late Night Show? Want to read more of these kinds of posts? Have some suggestions local events for timotheories to share? Hit me back!

Otherwise, I’m theoried out for the night and am gonna need a couple of days to recuperate. See you fine folks soon.

Tim!