WNYC's ALL OF IT (w. ALISON STEWART): New Jersey folklore is coming to the East Village. The Devil & Daisy Dirt: a Garden State Gothic, Alt-Folk Event uses music, storytelling and puppetry to tell the story of the New Jersey Devil. Writer/director Alex Dawson, puppeteer Dan Diana, and podcaster Will Rogers, host of Guide to the Unknown, preview the event. Click title link to listen to interview.
NEW JERSEY IS THE WORLD: The Devil and Daisy is a play. But it's not just a play - it's a play that involves an eight foot tall Jersey Devil puppet and a whole lot of Jersey folklore embedded deep in its roots. In this interview we talk with Alex Dawson and Dan Diana about how this play came to be, their involvement in immersive/grassroots Jersey art, how one makes an eight foot tall Jersey Devil puppet, and much much more. Click title link to listen to interview.
STAGE WHISPER: On the latest Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper we were joined by the two amazing artists behind the upcoming production of The Devil and Daisy Dirt, Alex Dawson and Dan Diana. We had a great time discussing not only the show itself, but exploring their process and ideas regarding the world they continue to reinvent. So tune in to this fantastic conversation and get your tickets now! Click title link to listen to interview.
FEARS MAGAZINE: Executive editor Joseph B Mauceri talks with writer/director/narrator Alex Dawson and fabricator/puppeteer Dan Diana about their New Jersey gothic musical THE DEVIL AND DAISY DIRT. Click title to listen to interview.
LOST IN JERSEY: "The Devil & Daisy Dirt: New Jersey's Wildest Stage Show! In this episode, we sit down with Alex Dawson and Dan Diana, the brilliant minds behind the critically acclaimed bluegrass-Gothic stage show The Devil and Daisy Dirt. We loved hearing how they bring this Jersey Devil tale to life with heart, humor, and a towering eight-foot puppet. They shared how the show weaves horror, folk music, and Pine Barrens mythology into something totally unique — and why it’s been taking over barns, theaters, and even a vampire museum. We also talked about the deeper themes hiding under the hair and antlers. Stories of loneliness, courage, and connection, told through the eyes of Daisy, a diner waitress who finds something wild and wounded in the trash behind Lucille’s Luncheonette. It’s weird, moving, funny, and unforgettable." Click title link to listen to interview.
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THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER (Jason Nark): "On a blustery spring night, up in a barn loft in the New Jersey Pinelands, Alex Dawson conjured up the devil for a rapt audience. Standing to the side of the stage, swilling moonshine, with cutoff sleeves, his deep, raspy voice is rough as pine bark. The star of the show is Daisy Dirt, played by Jackie Fogel, a downtrodden waitress at a Pine Barrens greasy spoon where boorish regulars cackle and harass her. [When Daisy sings] a song to express her frustrations and fantasies, like sticking knives in the worst customers, the women in the audience cheered. In this show, the creature is more mythical than monstrous. “The monsters are human,” Dawson said. The creature in question punches up for a small production, an 8-foot puppet suit that combines classic elements of the Jersey Devil in a jarring way. It was created and manned by Dan Diana. It’s not for children. Country/Americana musician Arlan Feiles is [also] off to the side; his haunting music is the backbone of the show." Click title link for full article.
THE ASBURY PARK PRESS (Chris Jordan): "Be afraid — or not — because the Jersey Devil is coming to your town...[and] there's plenty of buzz...[but] this is a demon of a different stripe, and may not be the harbinger of terror he's been known as for centuries. By Alex Dawson, who is something of a Jersey legend himself." Click title link for full article.
NJARTS.NET (Rosemary Parillo): "Is it a gothic tale? A bluegrass concert? An alt-folk event? A horror show? If you ask Alex Dawson, 'The Devil and Daisy Dirt,' his one-hour spectacle of Pinelands pandemonium touring New Jersey breweries, bars, barns and occasionally a real theater, is all that and then some. Dawson has an abiding love for what he calls 'the dark fantastic,' having grown up on a sprawling horse ranch in the woods of Alabama. “'My mother seemed to believe in a lot of things. Sometimes I wonder if she was just trying to make the hot, slow world of Alabama more interesting to us. But she believed in witches in the woods and fairies in the flower bush. She believed in little people living in tree hollows and lizards the size of dinosaurs in the lake.'” Not surprising that the ancient tale of the Jersey Devil would stoke Dawson’s imagination." Click title link to read full article.