


timothy c goodwin.nyc-based actor, photographer, writer, and cohost of The Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop.
What does it take to make an audience roll with laughter? We caught up with Tim Goodwin, 31, of Rochester to get his perspective on the art of comedy.
As a member of Geva Comedy Improv (and its administrator), adjunct lecturer of improvisational theater at State University College at Brockport, and a cast member of Geva Theatre's production of Shear Madness, Goodwin is busy making Rochester a funnier place.
What does the Geva Comedy Improv administrator do?
Lots of odds and ends. I'm kind of the conduit between Geva Theatre Center and the troupe regarding administrative stuff.
What's your favorite part of the job?
It's not doing it. It's having it finished and being onstage and performing for our audience.
What's the hardest part of improv?
Being able to trust yourself. ... You have to not think and sometimes fail.
Is Shear Madness your first Mainstage production?
Yes. For me, it's important to find new things to do, and acting was a great way to do that. It's professional theater, but it's still so much fun.
Tell me about the play.
Shear Madness is a whodunit. It's really funny. I play Mikey Thomas, a young, energetic fella who gets his hair washed, 'cut' and dried each performance. He's also, most assuredly, the sexiest character in the play. Outside of that, you'll have to come see the show!
Is it difficult to transition from improv to the Mainstage?
Shear Madness is a different kind of comedy ... one that grabs you at the very beginning and just boom, boom, booms, its way to the end. There are a few habits I've picked up in improv that don't translate to the Mainstage, but improv is so important to the theater world that the basic skills are universal. All good theater looks improvised.
What's the best part of teaching improv theater at SUNY Brockport?
It's awesome to teach ... people who have never done improv before. To see them breaking down the fear of having a scene come off of the top of their head is great! ... We like to ... learn to play. Improv is play with a purpose.
What advice do you have for people wanting to get into improv?
Keith Johnstone's Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre is the bible. It is ... the basis for narrative improv. Try and remember that there are stories in every single person. Being the best you that you can be. It's what makes improv!
(November 21, 2005) — Death is a lively business at the Shear Madness Hairstyle Salon on Park Avenue. Someone killed renowned concert pianist Isabel Czerny, who lived in the apartment above the salon. News 8 reports that Rochester police are interrogating the suspects — after issuing them a "two-word" warning: "Nobody's going anywhere."
Welcome to Shear Madness, a crowd-pleasing whodunit that opened at Geva on Saturday night. Be advised to take your seats early because the fun begins before the first lines are ever spoken.
In a garishly appointed salon with Technicolor hues of orange, yellow, pink and purple (kudos to Gary Jacobs, scenic design), flamboyant, gay hairdresser/owner Tony Whitcomb (Tom Wahl) is lip-syncing to music while washing a customer's hair. Shop assistant Barbara DeMarco (Margot Moreland), decked out in a blue dress and cherry red boots, is busy chewing gum and painting her nails.
Customers enter the salon: Eddie Lawrence (Daren Kelly), a Monroe Avenue antiques dealer with a history of shady dealings, and Mrs. Shubert (Barbara Bradshaw), a Bermuda-bound wealthy socialite who might be having an affair.
We soon learn Isabel died while the foursome were in the shop. Who killed her? Was it Tony, who hated the sound of her music? Was it Eddie, who had an appointment with her later that day? Was it Barbara, who was supposedly having a "Lebanese" affair with Isabel? Or Mrs. Shubert?
Rochester policemen Nick Rossetti (Larry Bull) and Mikey Thomas (Tim Goodwin) must solve the crime — and they need the audience's help. You have the right to ask questions and are not to remain silent.
The latter would be nearly impossible because Shear Madness is riotously funny, filled with Mel Brooks-like groaner lines that are so dumb you hate yourself for liking it. Plus, there's a barrage of hilarious local references.
Wahl's role is so extreme that he manages to run circles around the other cast members. And he does a mean Carol Channing impersonation.
Moreland's contributions are also significant, and her "come-on" ad-libs are just the spark the show needs. There are also rich performances by Kelly, who transforms from respectability to a sharp-mouthed con artist, and Bradshaw as the society-type matron who enjoys more than a drink or two at lunch.
Police officers Bull and Goodwin can be categorized as "Dumb and Dumber" and their improvised "grilling" procedures are a hoot to watch.
Freelancer Marcia Morphy writes about theater.
you. should smell. my. hair. i had a taste of the fancy life today as i went to metro salon on geva theatre center’s dollar to get my hair cut for shear madness. having been voted with accolades in city’s best of
i walked in and was immediately offered coffee. i stammered at the thought but hey -- why not act the part, right? it’s the first time i’ve had coffee – damn good coffee, too – given to me on a saucer in a fine-looking cup. stefania washed my hair while we waited for amanda doherty (geva’s costume designer) to park the car. she showed up as i sat up from the wash with a towel over my head and the uncontrollable urge to smile at all the fuss made over a hair cut.
after a discussion on where my final hair style should rest (somewhere between amanda's desire to have it long enough for tom wahl to play with while "styling" my hair in the play and bruce jordan's wish that it be really, really short with a "princeton part") stefania erased a year’s worth of growth in a few precise swipes of her shears, giving me the look that supposedly will make me more “mikey thomas”-like. nice time. she even took her scissors to my eyebrows, after which I shook her hand; how many times do you get your eyebrows cut? afterwards she put stuff in my hair – she sweetly condemned the wegmans brand hair gel i admitted to using and put…well, I don’t know what it was she put in my hair but it was a mosh of a few different jars topped with some serious hair spray. smells fantastic. and I look pretty smart.