(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- The Devil is back! That's right, friends, it's time to get Dirty! Again! After their sold-out performance in November, The Devil & Daisy Dirt returns to New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC) for five shows from February 20-22, 2026. With a bigger budget and loftier goals.
Experience the timeless magic of what audiences are calling "NJ E.T." For the first time or the fifth. Kevin Smith, Smodcastle Cinemas, and Weird NJ present The Devil & Daisy Dirt: A Garden State Gothic Event.
"A night of theater you will never forget!" - Kevin Smith (Dogma, Chasing Amy)
Wait, what the Devil is this? It's a folk horror fairy-tale about the Jersey Devil with live music and an 8' puppet. A gothic mix of storytelling, theater, vaudeville, back porch session. Think Pine Barrens "Our Town" meets bluegrass E.T., with a shoulder-shot cryptid 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. Plus magic meat, woodland witches, an enchanted bullet, and an annual appetite contest with supernatural rewards. All backed by a high lonesome sound.
Tickets are available for purchase online. New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC) is located at 11 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
A percentage of the proceeds will go to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, helping them ensure the forests, rivers, and swamps that inspired the legend of the Jersey Devil remain protected for future generations of believers.
Trust me, friends, you don't want to miss this. But don't take our word for it. Here's what some other fine folks have said: "Spellbinding!" (Kevin Smith, Dogma, Chasing Amy); "haunting!" (The Philadelphia Inquirer); "weird and wonderful!" (Daniel Kraus, The Shape of Water w. Guillermo del Toro): "a mesmerizing, Pine Barrens fever dream!" (Asbury Park Press); "NJ's hottest theater ticket!" (94.3, The Point); "a BADASS (caps theirs) vaudeville show that marries music, theater, and gnarly monster effects!"(Rue Morgue Magazine); and "the most original, Jersey-centric and downright weird presentation in our state’s theatrical history!” Weird New Jersey
"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
"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
New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC) is a transformational project that has propelled New Brunswick’s Downtown Cultural Arts District into the spotlight as the region’s most exciting and dynamic performing arts center. NBPAC features two state-of-the-art theatrical venues in the Elizabeth Ross Johnson and Arthur Laurents Theaters, dedicated rehearsal studios, collaborative work spaces for arts organizations across the region, as well as 207 residential rental apartments and public parking.
With an investment of more than $170 million, the public-private partnership between DEVCO, the City of New Brunswick, Middlesex County, Pennrose, NJEDA, New Brunswick Cultural Center, Rutgers University, and New Brunswick Parking Authority is one of the most significant urban development initiatives in New Jersey.
