Dust Bowl Faeries Bring Interactive Murder Mystery "THE CLOVEN PENDULUM" to Rochester Fringe

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The gothic folk ensemble performs at School of the Arts Black Box Theater in Rochester.

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Dust Bowl Faeries: The Cloven Pendulum Gothic Murder Mystery will come to Rochester Fringe Festival. Performances will run September 24-26.

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Join gothic folk glam band Dust Bowl Faeries and their taxidermy spirit animal Hazel the Ram for a night of musical intrigue as they deconstruct the mysterious death of Hazel. Hazel lives on in the afterlife as a beloved faerie familiar, but her spirit cannot rest until the truth surrounding her death, decapitation and transformation into taxidermical form is revealed and justice is served. Help Dust Bowl Faeries solve the mystery while enjoying an evening of macabre dark-folk music. Audience members are invited to participate as both murder suspects and jury members in this surreal musical tableau.

Dust Bowl Faeries made their debut at the Rochester Fringe Festival as a duet in 2023 at the Spirit Room/Conjure Box theater. They returned as a trio in 2024 (Sprit Room) and 2025 (Photo City Music Hall). This is their first run at SOTA Black Box Theater and it is the Rochester debut of their murder mystery show The Cloven Pendulum. The duet will also be performing songs from their brand-new album Oh Dread! as well as songs hot off the press, never heard in Rochester before!

Dust Bowl Faeries perform a faerie-tale fusion of gothic folk music, infused with a dose of witchcraft and a dusting of woodland magic. The accordion driven ensemble hails from the New York Hudson Valley and draws inspiration from sinister circus songs, murder ballads and Eastern European folk music. Singing saw, piano accordion, percussion and guitars combine to create the Dust Bowl Faeries otherworldly sound.

The ensemble has toured internationally and has released several recordings including Oh Dread! (2026) & Magic & Mayhem (2024) featuring cellist Melora Creager of Rasputina, Carnival Dust (2023) featuring harpist Mikaela Davis and a debut album featuring Tommy Stinson of The Replacements/Guns N' Roses. Dust Bowl Faeries was founded by Ryder Cooley (faerie queen) and taxidermy spirit animal Hazel the Ram. Ryder and Hazel are joined by Jon B Woodin (rocket faerie) for this intimate duet performance.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/central-new-york/article/THE-CLOVEN-PENDULUM-to-Open-at-Rochester-Fringe-Festival-20260911)._