(MORRISTOWN, NJ) -- Sam Jay Gold’s All Vows comes to the Morris Museum for three performances from May 6-8. All Vows is a puppet memory play by puppeteer, theatre artist, and writer, Sam Jay Gold, where history and imagination collide in a heartwarming tale. The play is centered on the possibly true life of his grandfather, Poppy, a Russian Jewish refugee raised in China. Poppy is portrayed through five hand-carved, wooden puppets, each modeled after him at a different age in his life.
“We didn’t talk much about my grandfather growing up,” Sam Jay Gold says, “but I was proud of what I knew about his life: how he grew up in China after his family fled the Russian Revolution, how he taught himself Italian while in medical school in Bologna, how he became a surgeon in a Jewish ghetto in Shanghai before fleeing again, this time for America at the dawn of the Cultural Revolution. His was a story of resilience, worldliness, and drive. And since he died when I was three, I was content with its broad strokes – until an old photo re-surfaced last year, leading me to question every story and memory I had of the man.”
This performance explores what it means to suddenly realize you’re both an inheritor and active participant in your family history—and it can be messy. The play investigates the powerful, fragile truths we turn into the stories of our lives, while examining the overlapping space between where an immigrant’s history ends, and an American identity begins.
All Vows was first developed at St. Ann’s Warehouse Puppet Lab with Matt Acheson and Lake Simons as Lab Co-Directors at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, NY, in 2019. Additional development made possible with the generous support of The Jim Henson Foundation. All Vows was created partially in residence at Live Arts at the Morris Museum.
Tickets are available for purchase online. NOTE: All patrons 12 years and older must provide proof of full vaccination, currently 2 shots of either Pfizer or Moderna, or one of Johnson and Johnson, and corresponding ID. All sales are final. All patrons are required to wear a face mask for the entire time they are inside at the Morris Museum and Bickford Theatre. For assistance, call the box office at 973-971-3706.
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.
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. 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.
