(MORRISTOWN, NJ) -- On President's Day Monday, February 17th, acclaimed composer and keyboardist Phyllis Chen led a workshop in which participants, mostly families with young children, were invited to draw on scrolls which they and Phyllis punched into miniature compositions for the music box. Using her composer's alchemy, Chen will use this material to weave together a new sound collage,  Floating Verses: Morristown, which will be one part of of her show, Automatoys, when it premieres at the Bickford Theatre on March 13th at 8:00pm and Saturday, March 14th at 2:00pm.

Automatoys will consist of three pieces, including the aforementioned Floating Verses.  Lighting the Dark is a piece for keyboards, altered music boxes and projection, and new piece, as yet untitled, for the Gong Piano, a new instrument Phyllis has created with Ranjit Bhatnagar. The Gong Piano is housed in the body of a toy piano with clock chimes inside of it, like those of a grandfather clock. The piece was inspired by all the automated, clock instruments in the Museum's Guinness Collection. The new piece is a play on rhythm and resonance, the two basic elements with which we experience time. For Automatoys, Phyllis will assemble an orchestra of custom made music boxes and automatic, clock-inspired musical instruments to create a new kind of glorious sound in which some of the audience has a stake. 

Chen's work, Lighting the Dark takes its name from photojournalist Paola Gianturco who documented the lives of women in conflict zones. The quintessential ballerina associated with music boxes is replaced with various depictions of women and femininity. "Lighting the Dark was the highlight of an hourlong one-woman show... The looping, spellbinding music produced by her windup toys became a fitting tribute to the modest, repetitive and yet quietly heroic work of women." NY Times

Phyllis Chen played the toy piano as a little girl and fell in love with it when she encountered it again as an adult. Here was a remarkable instrument with no set history or rigid rules about how it should be played. With its unrefined but beautiful sound, this children’s toy is a new frontier in music and Phyllis Chen’s mission is to explore all its possibilities.  She is a composer, keyboardist and creative force whose music draws from her tactile exploration of objects and sound. She provided some of the music for The Other Mozart, which was presented at Live Arts last October. 

Automatoys will be presented just a few steps away from the museum's Murtough D. Guinness Collection, with its 750 historic mechanical musical intruments and mechanical figures. In one visit to the museum, viewers can step from Phyllis Chen's sparkling new 21st century music back in time to musical delights and fantasies of the 19th Century.  

Phyllis Chen has been described by The Washington Post as “a virtuoso of the toy piano, she delights in the delicate sonorities of music boxes and everyday objects, weaving them into strikingly original works of engaging lightness and transparency."

Tickets may be purchased online at morrismuseum.org, by phone at 973.971.3706, or in person at the Morris Museum. The Morris Museum’s Bickford Theatre is located at 6 Normandy Heights Road in Morristown, NJ, and offers free parking and full accessibility. Box office hours for phone sales are Monday through Friday, 10:00am to 5:00pm.

Founded in 1913, the Morris Museum is an award-winning, multifaceted arts and cultural institution serving the public through its exhibitions and performances which strive to interpret the past and discover the future through art, sound, and motion. The Museum is home to the historic and internationally-significant Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of Mechanical Musical Instruments and Automata. Changing exhibits of contemporary content further illuminate its Permanent Collection. The Museum’s Bickford Theatre is a 312-seat performing-arts facility, offering unique programming in film, jazz, and live performance through its innovative series, Live Arts at the Morris Museum. The Morris Museum has a proud tradition of meaningful educational programs and family events. New Jersey’s only Smithsonian Affiliate Museum, Morris Museum is also the first museum in New Jersey to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, it has been designated a Major Arts Institution and has received the New Jersey State Council on the Arts’ Citation of Excellence, among other awards.

The Morris Museum is a Blue Star Museum, offering free admission to active duty military personnel and their families, from Memorial Day to Labor Day.