“If you hear a noise that threatens to shatter the windows and buckle the sidewalks, it’s only Jackie Hoffman,” Ben Brantley once wrote in The New York Times. With her rubber face, big, belting, screechy voice and no-filters delivery, Hoffman is reminiscent of a younger, raunchier and much more Jewish Carol Burnett (it’s probably not coincidental that she was cast as Princess Winnifred, the role that kicked off Burnett’s career, in last year’s Off-Broadway revival of Once upon a Mattress). She’s a singer, author/performer of original funny songs, an Obie-winning actress (for David and Amy Sedaris’ The Book of Liz) and a veteran standup comic well-trained in improv at Chicago’s Second City. She does lots of TV cameos, one-woman shows and a fair bit of voiceover acting, including the voice of Dilbert’s mom, several inanimate objects on Dora the Explorer, a water cooler in the animated film Robots and even a character in the Grand Theft Auto videogame franchise.
In short, even if you’re not sure that you’ve ever seen Jackie Hoffman in anything, you’ll be sure to hear her coming – on Saturday evening, June 11 at 8:30 p.m., for a solo performance in Hyde Park titled Kvetching at the CIA. This one-night-only special engagement is the latest in the Half Moon Theatre Company’s season of stage presentations at the Culinary Institute of America’s Marriott Pavilion auditorium.
Tickets for Kvetching at the CIA cost $35 for the show only, $55 for prime orchestra seats plus a dessert reception with Hoffman following the show. Go hungry and fill up on $55 worth of orgasmic tiramisu afterwards, or make a reservation at the Ristorante Caterina de’Medici for a special $39 pre-performance dining experience to be served between 5 and 6:15 p.m.
To purchase show tickets, call (800) 838-3006. To book your table for dinner, call (845) 705-4533 or e-mail ciaresertaurantgroup@culinary.edu. The Marriott Pavilion is located on the CIA campus at 1946 Campus Drive in Hyde Park.
Join the family! 
