For about the past year-and-a-half, dark corners of the Pine Barrens weren’t the only places for reported sightings of the Jersey Devil. Theater goers could spot him on stages all over the state in productions of “The Devil and Daisy Dirt.”
But that’s all coming to an end very soon.
If you’re unfamiliar with the show, it might be best to just share the breakdown provided by the show’s website.
“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),” the show’s synopsis reads.
“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.”
The traveling stage show only has a few more performances left in its run, with two of the shows taking place in South Jersey this month.
With the show coming to a close, we recently spoke with one of its co-creators, Alex Dawson, to talk about how it all came about, why its ending and what he’ll be doing next.
“In a nutshell, I describe it as like a Pine Barrens ‘E.T.,’” said Dawson, who is also one of the show’s co-stars.
It all started about six or seven years ago, when Dawson said he, his wife and their young son were visiting the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in Atlantic City. While there, among other exhibits, they got to view a purported depiction of the Jersey Devil’s skeleton at the attraction.
On the way home, they ended up stopping for something to eat at Lucille’s Luncheonette in Warren Grove, in the Pine Barrens, near the border of Burlington and Ocean counties.
The diner is known for its connection to the Jersey Devil, including its wooden statue depicting the mythical monster stationed outside the eatery.
Dawson said the food was good, and he’s been back several times since to eat, but it was that Jersey Devil coincidence that got things rolling.
“I got my son a hoodie that was emblazoned with the same logo that the waitress was wearing, which said, ‘I ate with the Jersey Devil,’” he said. “On the ride home, I started kind of thinking about this, and I thought, what would that be without the word ‘with?’ So, ‘I ate the Jersey Devil.’”
With that he had the spark of the idea that would lead to “Daisy Dirt.”
To bring the show to life, Dawson said he teamed up with his long-time collaborator, special effects artist Dan Diana. Diana had been working in Hollywood on movies like Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
But Dawson said when Diana came home to Jersey to get married, the idea for the show began to take shape.
“Him being a Jersey boy, and me having lived in Jersey since college, we were really interested in this idea of spinning the legend, the lore in a way, that didn’t paint such a monstrous picture of the Jersey Devil,” Dawson said. “So being monster kids from way back, we feel for the monsters. The monsters – not just King Kong and Swamp Thing and Frankenstein – but most of the creatural monsters, we feel, are mythological, magical, misunderstood protectors of something.
“The monsters in the stories that we sort of like, and the stories I write, are the men – the people that look like us.”
Diana, Dawson said, would go on to build an eight-foot wearable Jersey Devil puppet that he himself would control during performances.
Instead of taking up residence in one theater or another, Dawson said the show traveled from one site to another, from more traditional theater settings, to more unconventional locations.
“The venues themselves would play a part in the atmosphere,” he said.
Dawson said the show is now nearing its 50th and final performance, which will take place at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC) on Sat., Nov. 8.
“We’re not young men,” Dawson said, noting that he personally had never originally envisioned the show touring for as long as it has.
“We’ve decided to get ready for our next big show,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean that if, you know, Broadway or Netflix comes knocking… we’d be happy to revive it if somebody gives us the money to reimagine it or do a big-budget reboot or something like that.”
Prior to that show in November, South Jersey audiences will have two more dates to check it out before it’s gone for at least the foreseeable future.
On Sat. Oct 11, there will be two showings, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. in Old City Hall in Bordentown. That will be followed by a special “Devil’s Night” showing, presented by the Pinelands Preservation Alliance on Thurs., Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. at Rancocas Creek Farm in Southampton.
As for what he’s up to next, Dawson said he’ll again be joined by Diana as they tackle another mysterious creature, though this one hails from his home state of Alabama.
“In Alabama, we had this cryptid called the Alabama White Thang, which is sort of an albino Bigfoot,” he said. “I say it’s about mud, blood and moonshine and the kind of monsters you see when you’re two jars deep, right before you go blind.
“It’s a swing for the fences. It’s a big monstrous piece. And it’s saying a lot. It’s very ambitious. It’s more ambitious themes, louder music, bigger puppets.”
That production is set to also take place at NBPAC, where they hope to do a run of 10-12 shows in April.
“Dan and I are sort of governed by the Shakespeare quote, ‘Hell is empty and all the devils are here,’” he said. “Again, in our stories, the monsters aren’t supernatural. The monsters are always of the earth.”
