Deb Filler
Encyclopedia
Deborah Rachel "Deb" Filler (born October 30, 1954) is a New Zealand
born writer/performer, character artist and producer. Born to a German Jewish mother, Ruth Filler (born Ruth Adler in Hildesheim
, Germany), and a Polish Jewish father, Sol (Schaja) Filler who was a survivor of Plascow, Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Thereisenstadt concentration camps. Her maternal grandparents fled from Germany
to New Zealand in 1938, though her maternal grandfather's family's history can be traced back to the late sixteenth century in Germany. The family lived in Obernkirchen
and Hildesheim
. A book has been written about the Adler family in Obernkirchen
as well as other Jews from the province.
, Judy Collins
, and met Peter Paul and Mary, who encouraged her to continue singing folk songs. Also at age 9 she began to play guitar, mimicking socially important and intricately harmonized folk songs, determined to pursue a career in folk music. The Little Folksingers of Mt Roskill recorded Malvina Reynolds
' songs, Puff the Magic Dragon, as well as many other folk and children's songs of that period. She later attended Mt Roskill Intermediate and Mt Roskill Grammar Schools. After a year at the Machon L'Madrichei Chutz La'Aretz
leadership institute in Israel, she enrolled to study as a teacher trainee at the Auckland Teachers' Training College
, specializing in drama. It was during this period, in 1974, she met Leonard Bernstein
. Bernstein was so delighted her father had attended a concert
he had played for Holocaust survivors at the Landsberg
Displaced Person's Camp, near Munich in 1948, that he closed the Auckland Town Hall
and played a piano concerto entirely to Filler. Bernstein became a major role model for Filler both professionally and personally, who often quoted his warmth and generosity on and off stage. She taught music, theatre and English for the Auckland Education Board at area schools for three years, creating a musical, Giz A Go Travelling Road Show, touring in a friend's painted bus with her students.
, Uta Hagen
, and Deborah Hedwall. Her off-Broadway debut was in Sophie, a musical comedy based on the life of singer Sophie Tucker
. She performed in Europe with various 1980s theatre companies. Her first one-woman show, a variety of sketches which she wrote and performed in, was named 'Pick of the Fringe Festivals' by the CBC, Canada. Performing at various 1980s New York downtown cabaret spaces she worked alongside John Leguizamo
, Blue Man Group, as a featured artist at the 'Gusto House Cabaret' and was chosen to tour as a headliner from Gusto at the 1990 Edinburgh Fringe Festival with fellow performers including Jim Turner. A tour of the U.K. followed.
in 1992 and has frequently toured internationally. It opened New York's Jewish Museum's refurbished theatre and the new Hong Kong Theatre for the Arts. The show was adapted to a film by documentary filmmaker and director Francine Zuckerman. Punch Me in the Stomachthe film toured theatrically and was later screened on television internationally including on PBS.
FILLER UP!] co-written with Lowry Marshall]] is a twenty-seven character solo play where she bakes a loaf of challah bread onstage, ending with the story of how her father upon his liberation, was able to bake bread with the captured German POW's, because everybody was hungry. The play was workshopped in New Zealand at the Wellington Fringe 2000, at Rhubarb! Festival in Toronto, Baltimore Theatre Project], Theatre J Washington, Gloucester Theatre Company, Centre Stage, Harrisburg, in Winnipeg and at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh. World Premiere of the show at Drill Hall Theatre, London 2003 to a sell out run. Equally successful runs in Toronto, Berlin, Sydney, Auckland, and the U.S. (Alexandria, VA, and FL).
Playwriting stints include the Adirondak Theatre Festival] and guest playwright Buddies In Bad Times Theatre AnteChamber, and an ongoing member of the Usual Suspects Playwrights Lab at New York Theatre Workshop.
with Harvey Keitel, and Finn's Girl.
. Contributing writer in DAUGHTERS OF ABSENCE], edited by Mindy Weisel. Has worked on numerous productions as co-writer, and frequently tours stand up shows.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
born writer/performer, character artist and producer. Born to a German Jewish mother, Ruth Filler (born Ruth Adler in Hildesheim
Hildesheim
Hildesheim is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the district of Hildesheim, about 30 km southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste river, which is a small tributary of the Leine river...
, Germany), and a Polish Jewish father, Sol (Schaja) Filler who was a survivor of Plascow, Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Thereisenstadt concentration camps. Her maternal grandparents fled from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to New Zealand in 1938, though her maternal grandfather's family's history can be traced back to the late sixteenth century in Germany. The family lived in Obernkirchen
Obernkirchen
Obernkirchen is a town in the district of Schaumburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 8 km southwest of Stadthagen, and 15 km east of Minden....
and Hildesheim
Hildesheim
Hildesheim is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the district of Hildesheim, about 30 km southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste river, which is a small tributary of the Leine river...
. A book has been written about the Adler family in Obernkirchen
Obernkirchen
Obernkirchen is a town in the district of Schaumburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 8 km southwest of Stadthagen, and 15 km east of Minden....
as well as other Jews from the province.
Early life
Growing up in Auckland, she attended Mt Roskill Primary, where the local Presbyterian vicar, preaching to the entire school over the school intercom, informed the school it was the Jews who had killed Jesus. At the age of 9 she insisted to the vicar that her family had no part in killing Jesus and he recanted his statement publicly. As part of the Little Folksingers of Mt Roskill, a local recording group, she attended several folk concerts including Josh WhiteJosh White
Joshua Daniel White , better known as Josh White, was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist. He also recorded under the names "Pinewood Tom" and "Tippy Barton" in the 1930s....
, Judy Collins
Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...
, and met Peter Paul and Mary, who encouraged her to continue singing folk songs. Also at age 9 she began to play guitar, mimicking socially important and intricately harmonized folk songs, determined to pursue a career in folk music. The Little Folksingers of Mt Roskill recorded Malvina Reynolds
Malvina Reynolds
Malvina Reynolds was an American folk/blues singer-songwriter and political activist, best known for her song-writing, particularly the songs "Little Boxes" and "Morningtown Ride".-Early life:...
' songs, Puff the Magic Dragon, as well as many other folk and children's songs of that period. She later attended Mt Roskill Intermediate and Mt Roskill Grammar Schools. After a year at the Machon L'Madrichei Chutz La'Aretz
Machon L'Madrichei Chutz La'Aretz
Machon L'Madrichei Chutz La'Aretz is a young leadership program in Israel for high school graduates from all over the world...
leadership institute in Israel, she enrolled to study as a teacher trainee at the Auckland Teachers' Training College
Auckland College of Education
Auckland College of Education was a college of education located in Auckland, New Zealand. On 1 September 2004 it amalgamated with the University of Auckland and formed a new Faculty of Education with the university’s School of Education.-History:...
, specializing in drama. It was during this period, in 1974, she met Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
. Bernstein was so delighted her father had attended a concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
he had played for Holocaust survivors at the Landsberg
Landsberg am Lech
Landsberg am Lech is a town in southwest Bavaria, Germany, about 65 kilometers west of Munich and 35 kilometers south of Augsburg. It is the capital of the district of Landsberg am Lech....
Displaced Person's Camp, near Munich in 1948, that he closed the Auckland Town Hall
Auckland Town Hall
The Auckland Town Hall is a historic building on Queen Street in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, known both for its original and ongoing use for administrative functions , as well as for its famed Great Hall and its separate Concert Chamber...
and played a piano concerto entirely to Filler. Bernstein became a major role model for Filler both professionally and personally, who often quoted his warmth and generosity on and off stage. She taught music, theatre and English for the Auckland Education Board at area schools for three years, creating a musical, Giz A Go Travelling Road Show, touring in a friend's painted bus with her students.
Early career
Filler was lead singer in several rock and roll bands and a founding member of two celebrated New Zealand punk cabaret groups, "The Ratz" and "Debbie and the Dum Dums" with Derek Ward, Miles McKane, and Sarah Pierce. Also played music in the Backstreet Women's Theatre, a company formed by feminists in the New Zealand Women's Movement, reacting against a prominent anti-abortion bill at the time in New Zealand, which was overturned. Left New Zealand to study theatre in London but stayed in New York when she discovered Stella AdlerStella Adler
Stella Adler was an American actress and an acclaimed acting teacher, who founded the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City and the The Stella Adler Academy of Acting in Los Angeles with long-time protege Joanne Linville, who continues to teach and furthers Adler's legacy...
, Uta Hagen
Uta Hagen
Uta Thyra Hagen was a German-born American actress and drama teacher. She originated the role of Martha in the 1963 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee...
, and Deborah Hedwall. Her off-Broadway debut was in Sophie, a musical comedy based on the life of singer Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker was a Russian/Ukrainian-born American singer and actress. Known for her stentorian delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertainers in America during the first half of the 20th century...
. She performed in Europe with various 1980s theatre companies. Her first one-woman show, a variety of sketches which she wrote and performed in, was named 'Pick of the Fringe Festivals' by the CBC, Canada. Performing at various 1980s New York downtown cabaret spaces she worked alongside John Leguizamo
John Leguizamo
Jonathan Alberto "John" Leguizamo is an Colombian-American actor, producer, voice artist, and comedian.-Early life:...
, Blue Man Group, as a featured artist at the 'Gusto House Cabaret' and was chosen to tour as a headliner from Gusto at the 1990 Edinburgh Fringe Festival with fellow performers including Jim Turner. A tour of the U.K. followed.
Theatre
Filler has worked as an actor, writer and comedian internationally. She is best known for her character artistry and autobiographical writing and performance, straddling laughter and tears. Punch Me in the Stomach, co-written with Alison Summers, was her first major solo show with thirty-six characters. It was first workshopped at La Mama Theatre in New York. It toured to the Adelaide Festival, and the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, where she won 'Critics' Pick'. It opened off-Broadway at the New York Theatre WorkshopNew York Theatre Workshop
__notoc__New York Theatre Workshop is an Off-Broadway theatre noted for its productions of new works. Located at 79 East 4th Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, it houses a 198-seat theatre for its mainstage productions, and a...
in 1992 and has frequently toured internationally. It opened New York's Jewish Museum's refurbished theatre and the new Hong Kong Theatre for the Arts. The show was adapted to a film by documentary filmmaker and director Francine Zuckerman. Punch Me in the Stomachthe film toured theatrically and was later screened on television internationally including on PBS.
FILLER UP!] co-written with Lowry Marshall]] is a twenty-seven character solo play where she bakes a loaf of challah bread onstage, ending with the story of how her father upon his liberation, was able to bake bread with the captured German POW's, because everybody was hungry. The play was workshopped in New Zealand at the Wellington Fringe 2000, at Rhubarb! Festival in Toronto, Baltimore Theatre Project], Theatre J Washington, Gloucester Theatre Company, Centre Stage, Harrisburg, in Winnipeg and at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh. World Premiere of the show at Drill Hall Theatre, London 2003 to a sell out run. Equally successful runs in Toronto, Berlin, Sydney, Auckland, and the U.S. (Alexandria, VA, and FL).
Playwriting stints include the Adirondak Theatre Festival] and guest playwright Buddies In Bad Times Theatre AnteChamber, and an ongoing member of the Usual Suspects Playwrights Lab at New York Theatre Workshop.
Film
Short films, 'Ladies and Gentlemen:Biddie Schitzerman," and 'Trip'. Appeared as Elaine, from Elaine's Restaurant New York The Path to 9/11The Path to 9/11
The Path to 9/11 was a two-part miniseries that aired in the United States on ABC television from September 10 – 11, 2006, and also in other countries. The film dramatizes the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City and the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks.The film...
with Harvey Keitel, and Finn's Girl.
Print and other work
Voice of the Peg Bundy doll and "Mummy" in the award winning animated series, Bob and MargaretBob and Margaret
Bob and Margaret was a Canadian/UK animated television series that was also shown in the United States and all over the world. The series was produced by Nelvana, a Toronto animation studio, and created by Canadian David Fine and Brit Alison Snowden...
. Contributing writer in DAUGHTERS OF ABSENCE], edited by Mindy Weisel. Has worked on numerous productions as co-writer, and frequently tours stand up shows.