"There is no one remotely like Alex Dawson in Gothic New Jersey or anywhere else. A riveting, one-of-a-kind storyteller." - Joyce Carol Oates, Butcher
A BLUEGRASS TALL TALE WITH LIVE MUSIC AND AN 8' PUPPET!
Sure, you've seen Bruce at The Stone Pony and one of your parents went to the same high school as Bon Jovi. You've been to Maxwell's, Hurricane Harbor, and The Gates of Hell. You know that Taylor Ham and Pork Roll are the same thing. You have a favorite diner, deli, bagel place. You've thrown up on NJ Transit, eaten a tube steak in an inner tube on the Delaware, and spent the night inside Lucy the Elephant...
BUT.
Have you seen the bluegrass, Jersey Devil tall tale Weird NJ calls "the most original, Jersey-centric and downright weird presentation in our state's theatrical history"? No? C'mon! I mean, how Jersey are you?
Don't miss the singular event Rue Morgue Magazine calls: "a BADASS vaudeville show that marries music, theater, and gnarly monster effects!" As heard on WNYC! As seen on the cover of Weird New Jersey!
THE DEVIL & DAISY DIRT: A GARDEN STATE GOTHIC EVENT
FEATURING: Alex Dawson, Dan Diana, Arlan Feiles, and Jackie Fogel
LOGLINE: Pine Barrens E.T.
PITCH: Think Pine Barrens Our Town meets cryptid E.T., with a shoulder-shot Jersey Devil instead of a stranded extraterrestrial, deer hunters instead of federal agents, and a portal that opens above the Apple Pie Hill fire tower after a midnight lightning strike instead of an alien mothership shaped like a Christmas tree ornament. All backed by a high lonesome sound.
SYNOPSIS: On the night of an annual appetite contest called "I 8 the Devil," Daisy Dirt finds something strange - winged and antlered, wounded but alive - in the dumpster behind Lucille's Luncheonette (aka the Devil's Diner). With the help of a Piney palm reader named Effie and a piece of magic muscle meat from the basement game locker, Daisy evades a villainous poacher named Tasty (Murder) and risks everything to save it.
RUN TIME: 1 hr.
RATING: PG13.
"Stunning. With a muscular, train chugging lyricism. Boom chicka boom. Jim Henson meets Johnny Cash. Their Devil mixes the Wendigo with Gossamer from Bugs Bunny and the titular animal from your favorite boy and dog or girl and horse book. A hairy, humped, knuckle dragger with black, unblinking eyes that somehow convey a wealth of emotion. This story will break your heart." - Lev Grossman, The Magicians, The Bright Sword
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"It will absolutely blow your mind!" (Jersey Is the World)
"Very weird and very Jersey! See it to believe it!" (Weird New Jersey)
"Fantastic!" (Brian and Wendy 'Mother of Yoda' Froud, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth)
"Wildly inventive and totally unmissable." (Sophie White, Where I End)
"Beautiful. Incredible." (Adrien Beau, The Vourdalak)
"The hero we need!" (Stephen Graham Jones, The Only Good Indians)
"A wild ride!" (Clay McLeod Chapman, Ghost Eaters)
"Brilliant! Half creature feature, half country song!" (Lee Pfeifer, Cinema Retro)
"A mesmerizing Pine Barrens fever dream!" (Chris Jordan, Asbury Park Press)
"Amazing! Chucky would be jealous." (Tom Holland, Fright Night, Child's Play)
"Part horror, part heart...totally unforgettable." (Lost in NJ)
"A haunting theatrical experience [that] left the audience gasping in awe!" (Fears Mag)
"A one-hour spectacle of Pinelands pandemonium!" (Rosemary Parillo, NJArts)
"OG Jersey Devil Dawson puts the Dirt in Dirty Jerz!" (Mike Edison, Raunch Hands)
"Dawson burns it all down. I loved it." - Chris Tsakis, NPR, SiriusXM Outlaw Country
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WHO: ALEX DAWSON (writer/director/narrator) is a professor at Rutgers University where he teaches creative writing with a focus on the dark fantastic. ARLAN FIELES (composer/balladeer) is an internationally touring Asbury Park folk singer. DAN DIANA (fabricator/puppeteer) was a special effects artist in Hollywood for almost a decade, working on mostly Marvel movies; he built the battered Iron Man helmet in Avengers Endgame. Also with JACKIE FOGEL (Daisy Dirt).
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"Sits on the border of legends and tall tales. Somewhere between a DIY show and Kneehigh’s production of The Wild Bride. The result is absolutely stunning." - Tobias Carroll, Reactor
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| Dan Diana (Jersey Devil) and Jackie Fogel (Daisy Dirt) - Photo Credit: Mike Dolan. |