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Avi Hoffman certainly is not "too Jewish" for a Broadway career. He won an Ovation Award, was nominated for the Drama Desk Award, and has performed his shows over 2,500 times -- all on the premise of being Jewish.

Hoffman will bring his Jewish trilogy, "Avi Hoffman: Too Jewish?" "Too Jewish Too," and "Still Jewish After All These Years" to the Ruth Hyman JCC, Deal Park, June 18, 19, and 21.

"I've always been involved in the Jewish cultural world," Hoffman told The Jewish State in a phone interview May 25. "Both my parents and one pair of grandparents survived the Holocaust. I grew up speaking Yiddish, and their primary concern in the years when I was growing up was to preserve the Jewish culture."

Hoffman preserved his Jewish culture in the way he knew best: through acting and humor. The 40-year veteran actor wrote his first show 14 years ago about his parents' immigrant experience. The show ran off-Broadway in 2004 for a year-and-a-half and ended up on public television for more than six years. Four years after composing his first show, he wrote the sequel, "Too Jewish Too," which picks up where the last show left off.

"It turns into a very funny American style of Judaism," Hoffman said. "After the immigrants came to America and they had kids, what did these kids do with their Jewish heritage? [They incorporated] their Jewish heritage into music and comedy and theater and the arts and this whole American style of Judaism."

In his second show, Hoffman tells the parts of his upbringing that he considers quintessentially Jewish, like klezmer music and the "Catskill experience," a popular vacation spot amongst Jews located in upstate New York. "Too Jewish Too" was also picked up by public television and has run nationally over the past four years.

"I thought, 'that's it,' I wrote two shows," Hoffman said. "However, I had been circulating an idea for the past few years that if I ever wrote a third show, it would be called 'Still Jewish After All These Years.' I didn't know what it would be about; I just had the cool name."

Several months ago, Hoffman wrote a show to match the title, rounding out his trilogy of shows revolving around just how Jewish he is.

"It's a very personal telling of my life in the Jewish theater," Hoffman aid. "It's become the most personal of all my shows, even though all of my shows are personal. The first show was about more my parents and grandparents; the second about entertainers, America, and American Jews; and this one is all about me and all about my life."

Hoffman calls his shows the "Norman Conquest" of the Jewish world, modeling his shows after the Broadway trilogy. The reference turned out to be a prediction about the show's future rather than a humorous comparison as Hoffman moves to develop a trilogy for Broadway that involves three shows a week.

"The idea is that people can come back," Hoffman said. "You buy two shows at a discount and get the third show free. The hook is if you only buy one show, it's really affordable… for $36, you see three shows -- all funny, totally different, moving, and great. You can bring your family and celebrate Jewish culture."

This "Norman Conquest" style of bringing attendees in to see the show will go on a trial run at the Ruth Hyman JCC, with shows on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

"I did the new show there (the Ruth Hyman JCC) several months ago," Hoffman said. "People walked out so happy that they asked me if I would come back. I said I have this concept, maybe I can try it out. They found a weekend that I can do it and there you go!"

"Too Jewish?" will play June 18 at 7 p.m., "Too Jewish, Too" will play June 19 at 2 p.m., and "Still Jewish After All These Years: A Life in the Theater" will play June 21 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $20 for one show, $36 for two, and the third show is free with the purchase of two shows. For more information or to order tickets, call the Axelrod Performing Arts Center, (732) 531-9100.