One Floor Below, Jeff Hiller Brings The Exhibitionist to SoHo

Jeff Hiller, the Emmy winner from Somebody Somewhere, stars alone in The Exhibitionist, James Hindman's solo comedy, for nine performances at SoHo Playhouse on Vandam Street from November 9 to 21.

BroadwayWorld published the first company photos on Thursday, October 29. It is a short run in a small room, and it is the kind of booking that makes a downtown night worth planning around.

What Is The Exhibitionist About?

It is a museum comedy with a trapdoor under it. Justin, a longtime intern at the fictional McMillon Museum of Art, is leading visitors through a newly rediscovered Van Gogh, according to the TDF listing. One floor below, his own artwork is being judged in a competition that could launch the career he has wanted all along.

So he gives the tour and panics at the same time. TDF files it as a comedy-drama, and its description names what sits under the jokes, the fear of being overlooked and the nerve it takes to keep believing in your own voice. BroadwayWorld frames it around the pressures of being an artist.

That is a familiar feeling below Houston Street, where the galleries and the studios are never far apart. A Van Gogh upstairs and an unknown downstairs is a neat way to stage the gap between the art people line up for and the art people make. The show runs about an hour. BroadwayWorld puts it at 65 minutes and calls it "a love letter to artists," a phrase that also appears in TheaterMania's announcement, which adds that the play explores "the lengths they will go to define their worth and success."

Hiller is the only performer listed. Andrew Russell directs. Christopher Ford designed the set and costumes, Kate McGee the lighting and Peter Mills Weiss the sound, according to TheaterMania. Occasional Drawl, the company run by Brian Letchworth and Christa Scott-Reed, produces in association with Whitley Theatrical, BroadwayWorld reports.

One floor below, his own artwork is being judged.

Who Is Jeff Hiller?

He is the New York comic actor who won the 2025 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, for playing Joel on Somebody Somewhere. Wikipedia's account of his career traces the rest of the path through the city's small rooms.

He started doing improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in 2001, on teams including People People and Creep, and taught there for about a decade. In 2018 he took over Drew Droege's solo show Bright Colors and Bold Patterns Off-Broadway. He played John Quincy Adams in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, and in 2025 he played Mr. McQueen in the Encores! revival of Urinetown. Among his 2026 television credits is Dale in Widow's Bay.

A solo comedy about an anxious artist suits him on paper. Hiller lives in New York with his husband, the artist Neil Goldberg, according to the same account.

It is also a smart scale for an Emmy winner. Other comedy names are taking big stages this fall. Bowen Yang set a house record at the Lyceum in Oh, Mary!, as we reported in A Room Full of Marys. Hiller is going the other way, into a 178-seat house downtown. He is not the only star choosing one actor and one small room. Tilda Swinton is bringing her solo play Man to Man to the Lucille Lortel in February, as we reported in Trousers On.

How Small Is the Room?

Very. SoHo Playhouse seats 178 in a proscenium house, according to TDF's accessibility notes. By Suite 646's arithmetic, nine performances in a 178-seat theater come to at most 1,602 tickets for the whole run.

Even a sold-out night means 178 people in the seats, close enough for the back row to read a face. For a television name with a new Emmy on the shelf, the small number is the point. If you want to see him this close, you have nine chances.

What to Know Before You Go

SoHo Playhouse is at 15 Vandam Street. The run is November 9 through 21. Full-price tickets are $49 to $69, according to TDF, and age guidance is 12 and up.

Plan for the building. TDF notes five steps to the box office and theater and eight at the entrance, with no ramp or elevator, and a restroom down two flights.

Upstairs, a Van Gogh. Downstairs, a career. Hiller has an hour to get between them.