Punch Me In The Stomach - The Film
Produced by New York Theatre Workshop
Deb Filler and her father Sol decide to take a vacation together for the first time. Some people tour Europe, some people explore the Himalayas, but not Deb and Sol who set out on a whirlwind tour of Eastern European Death Camps. They return to a surprise birthday party given for Sol at Auckland’s Sheraton Hotel, and Deb’s entire Polish/Australian/ Hungarian/German/Mexican/New Zealand/New York family show up to help celebrate and want to know every detail. Can Deb get a word in?
“PUNCH ME IN THE STOMACH!” is a one-woman show written and performed by Deb Filler, in collaboration with director Alison Summers. The show was inspired by a trip Filler made to Poland with her father who is a survivor of Auschwitz. Based on her experiences during that trip, and from her years growing up in New Zealand amidst a dynamic family of Jewish refugees, Filler reveals to us the secret of her own survival as she leads the audience through a catharsis using laughter as a triumph over pain.
The one and a quarter hour piece is filled with stories, songs, characters (36 at last count), lots of laughs, and some tears.
Israel Horovitz in THE VILLAGE VOICE said….
“WE LAUGH AND WE WEEP…Deb Filler…a most extraordinary story teller IN A MOST EXTRAORDINARY WORK….a stunning evening of theatre.”
“I WAS LAUGHING, CRYING, THINKING, FEELING…MAGNIFICENT!” Louise Kennedy – THE BOSTON GLOBE
“THE LAUGHS COME WITHOUT GUILT AND THE BITTERSWEET MOMENTS DON’T GET DROWNED IN MAUDLIN TEARS…IT’S THE HUMOUR OF SURVIVAL AND IT’S NEVER BEEN MORE APTLY APPLIED.” Aileen Jacobson – NEW YORK NEWSDAY
“Remarkable….funny, warm and deeply moving….full of the sharpest observations and most Incisive impressions….Filler traverses dangerous territory — artistically, ethically and emotionally…AN ALL-too-rare moment of theatre that should not be missed.” Peter Weiniger – THE AGE, MELBOURNE
Media Contact: ERICA ROTHSTEIN – fillerupinfo@gmail.com