Joseph Cashore saw his first marionette hanging in a gift shop when he was 10 or 11 and on vacation with his family.

“I asked the lady if I could try it out,” he said in a phone interview last week. “She wouldn’t let me, so I went home and made my first marionette.”

Even he can admit that first effort — made from clothespins, wood, string and a tin can — was a bit crude, but it fascinated him.

“Every once in a while, by accident, it would move,” he said. “Just for a second, it looked like it was alive, and that’s what I remember.”

Today, Cashore’s designs are much more elaborate and operated by between 21 and 42 strings.

He performs with them in a show called “Life in Motion,” which he’ll be bringing to Sweet Briar College’s Murchison Lane Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Thursday (see below).

The show is comprised of a series of short vignettes featuring different marionettes. They cover serious themes like homelessness; tender moments, like that of a mother trying to put her baby to sleep with a lullaby; and more upbeat ones, including a boy flying a kite and a horse being tormented by a dragonfly.

Each piece, based on observations he’s made of everyday life, “expresses a different idea,” he said. “It’s like a roller coaster ride. I’ve arranged the evening so you’re up, you’re down, you’re surprised.”

Instead of operating the marionettes from behind a curtain onstage, which is traditionally how it’s done, an all black-clad Cashore stands on stage with his creations.

“The audience can kind of eliminate me from the experience,” he said. “(It’s) much more comfortable to me. It seemed more natural.”

He accompanies the pieces with music from the likes of Beethoven, Vivaldi, Strauss and Copland.

“I try to find (music) that expresses the theme emotionally and has enough changes that I can choreograph the movement of the marionette with it,” Cashore said, adding that he shies away from music with words.

“The marionettes are communicating through what they’re doing. It’s very clear what’s going on.”

Tickets to “Life in Motion” are $10 for adults, $7 for seniors, $5 for students and free for children younger than 12 and members of the SBC community. They can be purchased by calling (434) 381-6120 or visiting http://www.LynchburgTickets.com. For more information on Cashore, visit http://www.cashoremarionettes.com.

Cashore’s show is just the beginning of what looks to be a very busy fall.

Here are some other events to keep an eye out for.

Better mark your calendars now (but remember, dates and times are always subject to change, so check in with each organization’s website as the event gets closer; as for tickets, most can be purchased at http://www.LynchburgTickets.com):

Friday, Sept. 10
• Two local productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which tells the story of a southern family in crisis, are opening at 8 tonight, from Renaissance Theatre (1022 Commerce St. in downtown Lynchburg) and Little Town Players (931 Ashland Ave., at the Elks National Home Theatre) in Bedford.

Renaissance’s other performances are at 8 p.m. on Sept. 11, 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25 and 3 p.m. Sept. 19. Tickets are $17 for adults, $15 for seniors and $10 for students; call (434) 845-4427 or visit http://www.renaissancetheatre.info.

Little Town Players’ shows are 8 p.m. Sept. 11, 17 and 18 and 2 p.m. Sept. 12 and 19. Tickets are $12; call (540) 586-5881 or visit http://www.littletownplayers.com.

Saturday, Sept. 11
• Brookneal’s Sans Soucy Vineyards is holding its first Shrimp and Wine Festival from noon to 6 p.m. There will be a shrimp cook-off, live music and vendors selling Virginia wines, arts and crafts.

Sans Soucy will also be serving up its award-winning wines during the festival. Their 2009 Legacy blend and their ginger dessert wine were recently ranked as “highly recommended” by The Beverage Tasting Institute’s World Wine Championships.

Admission is $15 in advance and $20 at the gate. Call (434) 376-9463 or visit http://www.sanssoucyvineyards.com.

Sunday, Sept. 12
• Africa House will open a new exhibit, with a reception from 2 to 5 p.m. Works on Paper features the art of Martha Jackson Jarvis, who is known for doing several public art projects in Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago. A gallery talk is schedule for 3 p.m. Call (434) 238-3328.

Saturday, Sept. 18
• More than 120 artists will show their work and compete in the 38th Annual Lynchburg Art Festival, which will be held on the grounds of E.C. Glass High School from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a rain date on Sept. 19. Call (434) 386-0677.

• The first-ever Lynchburg Beer and Wine Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in downtown Lynchburg’s Riverfront Festival Park. Live music will be provided by Dragonfly at 10 a.m., The House Band at 12:30 p.m. and Jerry Wimmer, lead singer of The Worx, at 3 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the gate; general admission, without any tasting, is $5, and those 12 and younger get in free.
Visit http://www.lynchburgshows.com for more information. 

Sunday, Sept. 19
• The Central Virginia Land Conservancy’s Land Jam — which raises funds for the organization’s work conserving land in Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Campbell and Nelson counties — is scheduled from 3 to 7 p.m. at Lazy Days Winery off U.S. 29.

Dave and Mel Ellis, owners of dish and Mangia, will cater the event with foods from local farms, and performers include country singer John Sines Jr., and Nelson County folk/rock group Molimo.

Tickets are $20 for adults; children 12 and younger get in free; call (434) 942-4320 or (434) 610-1622 or visit http://www.cvalc.org.

Tuesday, Sept. 21
• Lynchburg College is holding a 7 p.m. opening reception and lecture for the Daura Gallery’s newest exhibits.

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, a Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition, features 35 large-scale photographs that give an in-depth look at the similarities and differences among the planets and their moons.

Earth from Space, developed from a project of the U.S. Geological Survey and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, is a series of large, color reproductions of images captured by high-tech satellites circling the globe, recording rare views of dust storms, forest fires, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes.

Call (434) 544-8343 or visit http://www.lynchburgcollege.edu.

Friday, Sept. 24
• Liberty University is presenting Hairspray at 7:30 p.m. in the school’s brand new Tower Theater, which seats 640 people and features a state-of-the-art fly tower. Other performances are at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 and Oct. 1, 2, 8 and 9 and 2:30 p.m. Sept. 26 and 2 p.m. Oct. 2 and 9. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and LU faculty and staff and $7 for students. Call (434) 582-7328.

Saturday, Sept. 25
• Wintergreen resort will be hosting Oktoberfest, which they’re billing as a family event in a beer garden setting, from noon to 5:30 p.m. in the Evans Center. A traditional oompah band will perform, local microbrews will be available for tasting and German food like brats, potato salad and kraut will be for sale.

Tickets are $20 for adults (in-cludes eight tasting coupons; additional tastings are $1) or $5 for non-drinkers (includes two root beers); they will not be available in advance. Call (434) 325-8292 or visit http://www.wintergreenperformingarts.com.

• Grammy-award winner Sugar Blue will be also be performing a show at The Ellington at 8:30 p.m. that night. Called the Jimi Hendrix or Charlie Parker of the harmonica, he has toured and recorded with Bob Dylan, Prince, Ray Charles and The Rolling Stones (he’s probably best known for his signature riff and solo on the Stones’ hit “Miss You”). Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Call (434) 845-2162 or visit http://www.theellington.org.

Friday, Oct. 1
• Tree of Life Ministries is presenting You Can’t Be Too Careful as part of its Dinner Theatre at the Tree series. The one-act comedy is about four women whose bridge game is interrupted by a pair of inept bank robbers desperate for a hideout. Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m., and the show starts at 7. Other performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 2, 8, 9, 15 and 16, and tickets are $25 per person. Call (434) 237-1572 or visit http://www.tolm.net.

Saturday, Oct. 2
• Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra will present an Oktoberfest celebration from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Armory in downtown Lynchburg. German food, catered by Main Street Eatery, and beer and wine will be served, and Bill Carroll’s Oompah Band will be performing. There will also be dancing demonstrations and raffles.

Tickets, which include dinner, non-alcoholic beverages and dancing, are $30 in advance and $40 at the door; students with a college ID and those younger than 18 get in for $25. Call (434) 845-6604 or visit http://www.lynchburgsymphony.com.

• Virginia School of the Arts will also be hosting its 2nd Annual Dancing with the Lynchburg Stars fundraiser from 7 to 11 p.m. in the James River Conference Center.

Local celebs taking their turn on the dance floor with VSA faculty include Councilman Turner Perrow, local musician Paddy Dougherty, WSET anchor Len Stevens, Lynchburg’s Director of Economic Development Marjette Upshur and Lynchburg College President Ken Garren and his wife, Sheila.

Tickets are $75 a person and can be purchased by calling (434) 847-8688.

Tuesday, Oct. 5
• E.C. Glass High School will present You Can’t Take It With You at 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Studio Theatre. First produced in 1936, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play is about an unconventional family dealing with their daughter’s traditional, conservative boyfriend. Tickets are $10. Other performances are 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6-9. Call (434) 522-3712, extension 3511,or visit http://www.ecglasstheatre.org.

Friday, Oct. 8
• Randolph College will present its Greek play production at 4 p.m. in the Dell. This year, it’s Euripides’ tragedy Hecuba, which takes place after the Trojan War but before the Greeks have departed Troy. Other performances are scheduled for 4 p.m. Oct. 9 and 10. Admission is free. Call (434) 947-8000 or visit http://www.randolphcollege.edu.

Saturday, Oct. 9
• Rebec Vineyards’ Virginia Wine & Garlic Festival is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 9 and 10. Tickets, which include a souvenir glass for wine tasting, are $18 in advance and $25 at the gate. Non-tasting tickets are $14 in advance and $20 at the gate; kids 12 and younger get in free. Call (434) 946-5168 or visit http://www.rebecwinery.com.

Thursday, Oct. 14
• Sweet Briar College’s fall musical is a production of The Secret Garden at 7:30 p.m. Other performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15 and 16 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for seniors, $5 for students and free for children 11 and younger. Call (434) 381-6120 or e-mail boxoffice@sbc.edu.

Heritage High School will also present The Wedding Singer, the Broadway version of the Adam Sandler movie, at 7 p.m. Other performances are at 7 p.m. Oct. 16, 21 and 23 and 2 p.m. Oct. 17 and 24. Call (434) 582-1147.

Thursday, Oct. 21
• Lynchburg College’s theater department is presenting The Good Woman of Setzuan, which follows three gods on a mission to find one really good person, at 7:30 p.m. Other performance dates are 7:30 p.m. Oct. 22 and 23 and 2 p.m. Oct. 24. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $5 for students. Call (434) 544-8380 or visit http://www.lynchburg.edu.

Saturday, Oct. 23
• Lynchburg City Cemetery’s Candlelight Tours start and run every 20 minutes from 6:30 to 8:10, rain or shine. Other tours are scheduled for Oct. 28, 29 and 30. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for kids 18 and younger. Call (434) 847-1465 or visit http://www.gravegarden.org.

Friday, Oct. 29
• Randolph College’s Wildcat Theatre will present the dark comedy Reckless at 7:30 p.m. The play follows a woman who flees her home on Christmas Eve after her husband confesses he’s hired a hit man to kill her. Other performances are at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30 and Nov. 4, 5 and 6 and 2 p.m. Oct. 31. Tickets are $13 for adults, $9 for seniors and faculty/staff and $5 for students. Call (434) 947-8000 or visit http://www.randolphcollege.edu.

Saturday, Oct. 30
• The Sedalia Center’s 14th Annual Chili Cook-Off is scheduled to run from noon to 7 p.m., rain or shine. The four-person teams start cooking on-site early Saturday morning, and awards are later handed out for Best Tastin’ Chili, Best Presentation and People’s Choice. Local band Work Release will be provide the live entertainment.

Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the gate. Call (434) 299-5080 or visit http://www.sedaliacenter.org.

Sunday, Oct. 31
• Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra officially starts its season with Halloween Treats, which will feature spooky music and a kiddie costume parade, at 2 p.m. in the E.C. Glass High School auditorium. Tickets are $20 for adults, $5 for college students and those ages 13 to 18, and free for children 12 and younger with an accompanying adult ticket holder. Call (434) 845-6604 or visit http://www.lynchburgsymphony.com.

Tuesday, Nov. 2
• E.C. Glass High School will be performing The Bedford Boys, its competition piece for the Virginia Theatre Association Secondary School Play Festival, at 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Studio Theatre. The original, multi-media production tells the story of the boys of Company A from Bedford. Other performances are at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3, 4, 5 and 6. Tickets are $8 each. Call (434) 522-3712, extension 3511,or visit http://www.ecglasstheatre.org.

Friday, Nov. 5
• Renaissance Theatre is presenting the musical Urinetown at 8 p.m. The Tony-winning hit is set in a Gotham-like city, where a terrible water shortage has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets, forcing citizens to use public amenities that are regulated by a company that profits by charging admission.

Other performance dates are 8 p.m. Nov. 6, 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20 and 3 p.m. Nov. 7 and 14. Tickets are $17 for adults, $15 for seniors and $10 for students and children. Call (434) 845-4427 or visit http://www.renaissancetheatre.info.

• Two other shows also open tonight: the Academy Players’ On Golden Pond, the story of an elderly couple facing their twilight years, at 7:30 p.m. and Little Town Players’ Love, Sex & The I.R.S., about an unmarried couple being investigated, at 8 p.m.

“On Golden Pond” will also be performed at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 6, 11, 12 and 13 and 2 p.m. Nov. 7; tickets are $20 for adults, $17 for seniors and $10 for students. Call (434) 528-3256 or (434) 846-8499 or visit http://www.AcademyFineArts.com.

“Love, Sex & The I.R.S.” will also be performed at 8 p.m. Nov. 6, 12 and 13 and 2 p.m. Nov. 7 and 14; tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for children 12 and younger. Call (540) 586-5881 or visit http://www.littletownplayers.com.

Sunday, Nov. 14
• Opera on the James will open its 2010-2011 season with one performance of Puccini’s Tosca at 3 p.m. in the E.C. Glass Auditorium. Tickets range in price from $25 (general admission) to $85 (patron reserved). Call (434) 528-3397 or visit http://www.operaonthejames.org.

Saturday, Nov. 20
• Poplar Forest’s Thomas Jefferson Wine Festival will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Now in its second year, the festival will include tastings from Virginia wineries, local food and artisans and live music.

Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door for tasting and $10 for non-tasting. Children younger than 12 get in free. Call (434) 525-1806 or visit http://www.poplarforest.org.

Stacy Sumpman has always been fascinated with movement.

Take, for instance, a piece the former dancer choreographed for Dance Theatre of Lynchburg’s Repertory Ensemble.

“Intersect” — which will be performed during Dance Theatre’s First Fridays reception this week — starts with a large group of dancers who then break off into smaller groups.

“It was just something that was interesting to me,” says Sumpman, who graduated from Jefferson Forest High School in 1991 and went on to study dance at William & Mary and, later, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in New York City.

“To work with just one or two dancers is a little scary (for me). I think it’s because I like patterns, and you can really see that with a large group of dancers.”

After living in New York for 13 years, Sumpman moved back to the area two and a half years ago and joined the Dance Theatre staff last year.

“It’s been great,” she says. “I’m really impressed with their level of focus.”

In addition to “Intersect,” the Repertory Ensemble will also perform two pieces from Artistic Director Keith Lee: “Funny Little Ballet” and “Wade in the Water, Children.”

Dance Theatre’s First Fridays reception will run from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

Other First Friday openings include:

The Academy of Fine Arts, 600 Main St.
The Academy is hosting its Annual National Juried Photography Exhibition, which will feature the work of 28 artists from 10 states. Juror Jon-Phillip Sheridan, a Charlottesville photographer, will speak at 5:30 p.m., and cash prizes will be presented at 6.

The Academy’s satellite galleries will also open new shows: Magnolia Foods has the photographs of Sammy Allen, and the Baker’s Gallery, inside Montana Plains in Wyndhurst, the watercolors of Dana Fox Jenkins. 

Dancing Leaf, 409 Fifth Street
Virginia native Barbara Cocks will show her acrylic and oil paintings, with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m.

Light Wings Gallery, 849 Belmont St.
Artists on The Loose, a Smith Mountain artists group, will show their work — everything from landscapes, portraits and abstracts using oil, watercolor, acrylic, pastel and pen and ink — in September and October, with an opening reception from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

The Lodge of the Fisherman, 4415 Boonsboro Rd.
The gallery will show the work of Terri Kendrick, who began experimenting with watercolors while studying architecture at Virginia Tech. The reception will run from 5:30 to 8 p.m. 

The Lynchburg Art Club, 1011 Rivermont Ave.
“Tri-Focus” will feature the work of Ashley Scholer, Martha Showalter and Harriet Wood, with a First Fridays reception from 5 to 8 p.m. and an opening reception from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Scholer paints places and things that act as a visual history of her life, be it a trip to Italy with her daughter, her time living in Switzerland or “really long” car trips delivering her kids to college; Wood and Showalter are friends and former teachers who work primarily with pastels, with subjects ranging from landscapes to local sites to portraits.

The Lynchburg Museum, 901 Court St
Clothing from the museum’s collection will be on display, with Ann Scalf as the featured speaker, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

Rivermont Gallery, 1204 Rivermont Ave.
The gallery will show the large-scale, pastel drawings of Eleanor Rufty and the metalwork of Joe Monk, with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday and a conversation with the artists event at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

Rufty’s work, called “The Beach Pictures,” deals with the landscape of memory. Each work is made of two or more images, as a place might exist in various layers of time in one’s memory.

Riverviews Artspace, 901 Jefferson St.
The Craddock-Terry Gallery’s latest, “Babes in Toyland: In Search of Humanity,” will show new work from painter Greg Jones. The often larger-than-life figures he paints are arranged in installations, hovering over the viewer in a playful, yet slightly ominous, way; most of his work comments on politics and government structure.

The Coop Gallery will also show new work, with featured artist Geral Butler, and the rest of the building will continue the shows “From Where I Stand: An Exhibition of Art by Autistic Children” in the Jefferson Lobby Gallery and “Quilts for Kids Nepal.”

The Urban Art Bazaar will also be up and running.

All of Riverviews’ events run from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

There’s nothing quite like laughing your way to a career milestone at the ripe old age of 30.

Just ask Lynchburg native Ryan Case, who has won an Emmy for Outstanding Editing for a Comedy Series for her work on the pilot episode of ABC’s “Modern Family.”

She’s the first woman to win the category, which was created in 2003.

Case says working on the popular show — which many in the industry have credited with reviving the sitcom genre — “might be even more fun” than actually watching it.

“I laugh all day,” Case, a 1998 E.C. Glass High School grad, said in a recent phone interview. “If you walk by my (editing) bay, you’d think I was crazy because I’m in this basement … and all you hear is me laughing out loud all the time.

“Sometimes, the only hard part of my day is picking which funny thing (to use).”

Case’s award was handed out at the untelevised Creative Arts Emmy ceremony, where the series also won for casting and sound mixing (the show itself won a slew of awards at the primetime ceremony, which aired last weekend).

When her name was announced, Case found herself standing on stage in front of a room full of stars and industry professionals, with only 45 seconds to thank her family, friends and coworkers.

“I knew (“Mad Men” star) Jon Hamm was there, and I was like, ‘I can’t think about that,’” she said with a laugh. “So I stared at (comedian) Wanda Sykes because she was right in front of me.”

After, “I kind of thought I was going to faint.”

But there was no time for that. Case was whisked backstage to talk to the press and take photos with her statuette, when all she really wanted to do was celebrate with her family.

“My sister was my date, and I really wanted to just go hug her. And I didn’t have my phone, so I couldn’t call my mom.”

It wasn’t until the next day — after finding the perfect spot to display her award, in the center of the piano in her apartment to “class up the joint” — that someone told Case she was the first woman to win the category.

“That’s really cool for me because more girls should be in comedy.”

Case’s long-term goal is film directing, something she fell in love with as a kid watching old Woody Allen and Albert Brooks movies with her mother, Rachel Case.

“She decided at the age of 8 that she was going to be a director and go to NYU film school,” said Rachel, who still lives in the Hill City. (Case’s father is local commercial real estate agent Gary Case.) “And she never changed her mind.”

Even then, she was an editor-in-the-making.

“I would hook up two VCRs, or I would drive to Roanoke and go to the AV store,” Case remembered. “There was some store there where you could get little (sound) mixers.

“I really enjoyed the editing process, even on that level, which was really small. And some directors I really liked went from editor to director. I kinda figured that was the way I wanted to go.”

After graduating from Glass, Case went to NYU and finished the program in three years instead of four.

She soon moved to Los Angeles and did a brief stint working as a production assistant on “The Real World,” editing where she could.

That led to work as an assistant editor on shows like “What About Brian” and “Carpoolers.”

“She did it all on her own, which makes me proud,” Rachel Case said. “She never stopped working. She just went from one job to another.”

Case went from assistant editor to editor while working on “Carpoolers.” It was also where she met director Jason Winer, the connection that eventually led to her “Modern Family” gig.

After working with him on another pilot that didn’t get picked up, Winer took Case with him to his next directing gig, an episode of the short-lived NBC series “Kath & Kim.”

“I ended up staying there for awhile,” she said. “Then he calls me one day and says, ‘We got this big deal.’ And it’s ‘Modern Family.’”

Case read the pilot script when she was in the airport, waiting to fly home to Lynchburg for a visit.

“He e-mailed me, and I read the entire script in my iPhone. I was like, ‘This is amazing. This is so funny,’” she said. “I just kind of knew it was going to be a big deal. But we didn’t understand how big until we did it.”

As for that whole “reviving-the-half-hour-sitcom” thing, Case said being involved is “insanely exciting.”

“For me, that’s like giving a chance to so many people that want to do what I do. You know, writers, actors, everything. It’s a really great feeling. I work for geniuses.”

She edits every other episode of “Modern Family,” a process that usually takes between two and three weeks, in a building that sits next door to the set.

“They start on Monday, and I start on Tuesday. I get all the scenes they shot the day before, and I’m just cutting as they go,” she said. “I do each scene individually and, if I get chunks, I piece them together.”

Oh, and when the entire cast went to Hawaii last year for a vacation-themed episode?

Case was there, too.

But don’t let all of her talk about fun and laughter fool you; editing comedy is no walk in the park.

“It’s harder to do comedy, and I enjoy the challenge,” she said. “You can make someone laugh with a reaction shot. Telling a joke is timing, and if you don’t get the timing right on the jokes, then they’re not funny. And I like that I have a part in that.”

Her success with “Modern Family” looks to be just the beginning.

Case also edited the pilot episodes of “Running Wilde,” a Fox sitcom from “Arrested Development” creator Mitch Hurwitz and star Will Arnett, and “Happy Endings,” which is on ABC’s midseason schedule.

But her heart lies with “Modern Family,” a place she has no intention of leaving anytime soon.

“I want to edit TV for awhile,” she said. “I mean, obviously, I’m on this great show.”

‘Modern Family:’ Case’s favorite episodes
• The pilot, which introduces us to the Pritchett clan: patriarch Jay (Ed O’Neill), his second wife, Gloria (Sofia Vergara) and her son, Manny (Rico Rodriguez); Jay’s son, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), his partner Cameron (Jesse Stonestreet) and their adopted baby girl; and Jay’s daughter, Claire (Julie Bowen), her bumbling husband, Phil (Ty Burrell), and their three kids.

• “Fizbo,” which is set during a birthday-party-gone-awry for Claire and Phil’s son, Luke. The episode’s title comes from Cameron’s clown alter-ego, whom he dresses up as for the party. The party’s chaos “was fun editing,” Case says. “It was like an action movie or something.”

• “Starry Night,” an episode that finds Jay, Manny and Mitchell watching a meteor shower together. Eventually, Manny and Mitch bond over both being outsiders.
“That episode had a lot of heart to it,” she says, “which I love.”

Really, that’s about how quickly it all collapses.

Director Daniel Stamm’s faux documentary starts out with deadpan delivery and a dry sense of humor, then it turns riveting, then truly frightening, then just plain silly. It’s like it morphs from being a Christopher Guest movie to “The Blair Witch Project” — as if writers Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland didn’t know where to go, so they went over the top.

Until then, the filmmakers keep you guessing as to what’s real and what’s imagined, what’s a disturbing mental disorder and what’s actually demonic possession. And the fact that this Eli Roth production uses all unknown actors helps us get sucked into this eerie world.

Evangelical Louisiana preacher Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) has been performing exorcisms for the past 25 years but he knows they’re all a sham.

He long ago lost his faith — if he ever had any, that is — and for a while has had no qualms about taking money from true believers in the name of supporting his own family. But now, with his conscience weighing on him, he decides to let a camera crew come behind the scenes to expose his tricks as he “performs” one last exorcism.

And it truly is a performance.

Cotton is hugely charismatic, a natural showman, and he’s all too happy to divulge how he uses his iPod to make evil groaning sounds, or how he gets a puff of smoke to come out of his crucifix at a climactic moment.

But he’s not arrogant about it, which is key: He’s engaging and confident but never so full of himself that he’s off-putting. Fabian finds the balance in his character’s conflicting motivations, which is crucial to allowing us to go along with him on this tried-and-true one last job.

Randomly, he selects a letter from the Sweetzer family living in fictional, rural Ivanwood.

There, teenage daughter Nell (the extraordinary Ashley Bell) has been acting strangely and the livestock are being slaughtered. Her father, Louis (Louis Hertham), a serious fundamentalist, begs Cotton to purge the demon he thinks has possessed his innocent little girl. Her younger brother, Caleb (Caleb Landry Jones, creepy in his stillness) isn’t shy about telling the reverend and his camera crew he wants them to go away.

Cotton breezes in, works his magic and breezes out. Or so he thinks. In that classically frustrating horror-film fashion, he finds he can’t leave. And as he gets dragged deeper into this family’s troubles, he finds himself in deeper trouble than he ever could have imagined.

Even before things turn violent, though, Stamm capably creates a suspenseful mood through the naturalism of the film’s look, the expert use of silence and pacing. The insularity of the Sweetzer family, the defiant way they’ve cloistered themselves from the outside world since the death of Louis’ wife two years ago, is enough to put you on edge.

There are moments in “The Last Exorcism” that will make you hold your breath, and others that will make you want to look away.

It’s rated PG-13 but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s soft. Actually, it’s the vagueness, the unknown, that make “The Last Exorcism” so powerful — at least for a while.

“The Last Exorcism,” a Lionsgate release, is rated PG-13 for disturbing violent content and terror, some sexual references and thematic material. Running time: 88 minutes. Three stars out of four.

Before departing for Floyd, the last day trip in our monthlong series, I had no idea what to expect from the small mountain town.

I’d heard about the annual FloydFest and The Floyd Country Store’s Friday Night Jamboree — more on that later — and that was about it.

What I found was one cool, little town full of friendly faces and talented musicians.

Dog days
It takes a little more than two hours to get there from Lynchburg (it’s about 30 miles southwest of Roanoke).

We started the day at Chateau Morrisette (287 Winery Road; 540-593-2865; http://www.thedogs.com; tasting room is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday; tastings are $5 for 10 wines and a souvenir glass), a dog-themed winery just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. (There are several ways to get there; see the website for details).

We drove through downtown Floyd first, just to get a glimpse of where we’d spend the afternoon, then continued on to the Parkway, stopping to eat our packed lunch at one of the scenic overlooks just a few miles down the road from Chateau Morrisette.

The winery’s tasting room and gift shop were gorgeous (the building has an interesting story, too: it’s one of the largest in the world that’s made entirely of recycle timber).

We weren’t in the mood for day drinking, so we spent about 30 minutes wandering around the shop until the 1 p.m. winery tour began.

During the tour, we got a glimpse of the machines that make the wine — lovingly dubbed Lucy and Ethel, an homage to the wine stomping episode of “I Love Lucy” — and the cellar, where they store and produce up to 80,000 cases of wine a year.

Our guide also told us all about their history.

Chateau Morrisette had been around for awhile before owner Dave Morrisette found their niche. After the death of his beloved black lab, Hans, he started naming wines after pooches. The first was a red wine called the Black Dog, the second a white called Our Dog Blue. Sales skyrocketed, and they’ve continued to do it ever since.

Downtown Floyd
After touring the facility and buying a couple of bottles of wine, we made our way back to downtown Floyd, making a couple stops along the way.

The Jacksonville Center for the Arts (220 Parkway Lane South; 540-745-2784; http://jacksonvillecenter.org; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday) is a community center, located inside an old barn, where local artists display and sell their work.

We also checked out the Harvest Moon Food Store (227 North Locust St.; 540-745-4366; http://www.harvestmoonfoods.com; 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday), which sells organic and gourmet food, gifts, natural remedies and even wine and micro brewed beers. 

By this time, an afternoon snack was in order.

At Nancy’s Candy Co. (201 East Main St., Suite 3; 540-784-4705; http://www.nancyshomemadefudge.com; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday), they’ll cover pretty much anything in chocolate. Graham crackers, pretzels, nuts, even Rice Krispies treats.

I circled the counters several times and tried all of their samples (also, um, several times) before settling on the chocolate-covered Rice Krispies treat, which was delicious.

Fueled up by the sugar rush, it was on to the downtown shops.

Nancy’s is located inside the Floyd Village Green (201 East Main St.), which is home to 14 locally owned shops, studios and offices. The Green is also a very short walk from Locust Street, which is the main drag in Floyd.

We checked out the Republic of Floyd Emporium (114 Locust St.; 540-745-2898; http://www.republicoffloyd.com; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Thursday and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday), which sells novelty T-shirts and other gifts and has a selection of really funny cards; New Mountain Mercantile (114 Locust St.; 540-745-4278), which sells the wares of local craftsmen and artists; and noteBooks and Blackwater Lofts (117 South Locust St.; 540-745-3060; http://www.notebooksandtheloft.com; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday; the Loft opens at 8 a.m. Monday-Saturday), a coffee and dessert shop upstairs and a store that sells new and used books, music, art supplies and gifts downstairs.

We ate an early dinner at Dogtown Roadhouse (302 South Locust St.; 540-745-6836; http://www.dogtownroadhouse.com; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to midnight Thursday-Saturday and 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday), a pizza joint that used to sell its pies out of the back of a pick-up truck; owners recently moved into a permanent space in the Sun Music Hall and host live music on Friday nights.

Loitering allowed
We ended our night at The Floyd Country Store (206 South Locust St.; 540-745-4563; http://www.floydcountrystore.com; 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday, and noon to 5:30 p.m. Sunday), which is truly the heart of the town.

It opened as a farmer’s supply store in 1910 and has always served as something of a gathering place. Today, benches and plastic chairs, plus a sign that reads “Loitering allowed,” are lined up out front.

The store itself is stocked with all kinds of gifts — think home décor items, soaps, lotions and clothing — and also has a food counter, where sandwiches, soups, ice cream and baked goods are sold.

The Friday Night Jamboree began in the 1980s, when two of the store’s former owners’ weekly bluegrass band rehearsals started drawing a crowd.

It starts every week at 6:30 p.m. sharp, but staff members recommend getting there by 6 if you want to get a seat. I say forget the seat, though; it’s much more fun to mill around inside and outside of the store.

By the time we finished our dinner around 5:30, a group of musicians had gathered nearby to perform for pedestrians. Within an hour, three or four more groups had popped up all over Locust Street.

The musicians traded instruments and took turns singing. I saw several people walk up to the jam sessions, whipping out their guitar or banjo and asking to play with them.

One time, I swear it seemed like a complete stranger walked up to one group and, within a few minutes, was playing another member’s upright bass. A few minutes later, a state police officer sat in for a couple of songs with another group across the street.

We also caught parts of the actual jamboree. The first band to perform was Down Home Gospel, followed by The Snow Creek Old Time Band at 7:30 p.m. and the Hans Creek Old Time Band at 9 (organizers say it usually goes until about 10:30 or 11).

You know how at live performances, it usually takes the crowd a little while to warm up and hit the dance floor?

Not at the jamboree. As soon as Snow Creek took the stage, the floor was packed with dancers.

By day’s end, I couldn’t believe I’d never been to Floyd before.

You can bet I’ll be back.

By the numbers
Total mileage: 220
Driving time from Lynchburg to Floyd: A little more than 2 hours
Tour of Chateau Morrisette: Free ($5 for wine tasting and a souvenir glass)
Dinner at the Dogtown Roadhouse: $22
Admission into The Floyd Country Store’s Friday Night Jamboree: $5

Other attractions/restaurants
• If one winery isn’t enough, Villa Appalachia (752 Rock Castle Gorge; 540-358-0357; http://www.villaappalaccia.com; open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. holiday Mondays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday; wine tastings are $3 per person) is just a mile down the Parkway from Chateau Morrisette.

• FloydFest (http://floydfest.com) is an annual music and arts festival held in a field off the Blue Ridge Parkway every summer (it was in July this year). It lasts four days, with on-site camping and performances of everything from bluegrass, Appalachian and rock to Cajun, African and world music.

• Hotel Floyd (120 Wilson St.; 540-745-6080; http://www.hotelfloyd.com) hosts live music in its outdoor amphitheatre every Thursday night from 5 to 8 p.m. through Oct. 28.

• The Mabry Mill (266 Mabry Mill Road in Meadows of Dan, milepost 176.1 on the Blue Ridge Parkway; 276-953-2947) is a picturesque national landmark that was originally built in 1910. The restored water-powered grist mill, sawmill and nearby blacksmith shop give a glimpse of pioneer life, and self-guided tours include a sorghum mill, soap making kettle and an old time whiskey still. There’s also a restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

• Mitchell Music Co. (203 South Locust St., Suite A; 540-745-6872; http://www.mitchellmusicco.com; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday) sells instruments that were handmade in the Blue Ridge.

• Mickey G’s Bistro & Pizzeria (113 Parkview Rd.; 540-745-2208; http://www.mickeygsbistro.com; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday) has an extensive menu of pasta dishes, sandwiches and more.

• Natasha’s Market Caféhttp://www.natashasmarketcafe.com; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 5:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday-Saturday), which is located upstairs from the Harvest Moon Food Store, sells local and organic slow-cooked food.

• Blue Ridge Restaurant (113 East Main St.; 540-745-2147; 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday) is the place to go for homestyle cooking.

• Oddfellas Cantina (110 A North Locust St.; 540-745-3463; http://www.oddfellascantina.com; lunch served from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and 5 to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday) specializes in Appalachian-Latino cuisine and hosts live music throughout the week.

It all started with a serious case of menopause.

When one of local actress and playwright Jennifer Petticolas’ friends was going through “the change” awhile back, she says they talked about it often.

So when Tony Camm, general manager at the Holiday Inn Select downtown, asked Petticolas to write something that could be performed in their lounge last year, Petticolas knew what the subject matter would be.

The result of Camm’s request was “Still Groovin,’” a musical comedy about a group of women in the throes of menopause.

“The thoughts had been running through my head because of (our) conversations,” Petticolas says. “It happened in four weeks, writing, gathering people together and performing.”

Earlier this month, Petticolas and her cast of five took a shortened version of the play to the inaugural D.C. Black Theatre Festival, where it shared first-place honors with another production.

The festival was spread out over five days of competition and four different categories — comedy, drama, adult and anything goes — with audience applause determining the winners.

Armed with a bare-bones set and a handful of props, the “Still Groovin’” crew won the adult category on a Wednesday night and the championship round that Friday.

(The car ride up to D.C. sounds like it was an experience in and of itself — LaShonda Brown, the youngest cast member, says the car “would heat up and cool down based on the (hot) flashes.”).

Petticolas had to cut the run time down from an hour to just 30 minutes for the festival. She says it was a difficult process because there were so many aspects they didn’t want to sacrifice.

“Every time I said, ‘I need to cut this,’ (cast member) Debbie (Wilder) said, ‘No. Because we deal with that,’” Petticolas says. “We ended up cutting a lot of things and tried to find a subtle way of putting them back in without words.”

One part that wouldn’t be cut was the music.

Petticolas took popular tunes and made parodies of them to fit the menopause theme. So the “chain, chain, chain” refrain in “Chain of Fools” became “Change, change, change,” and “I Can See Clearly Now” was “I Can’t See Clearly Now.”

Cast member Lynda Gentry says the audiences’ reactions were a highlight of the experience.

“So many women understand it, they get it. We would say something … and you would hear (women) in the audience responding to it.”

“The play is about women over 40 going through menopause, but we’re still grooving,” she says. “For most of us in the play, it’s real. Pretty much everything that’s talked about, we’re doing or have done.”

In just two short seasons, “Drop Dead Diva” star Brooke Elliott has established herself as one of TV’s most likeable leading ladies.

She stars in the Lifetime series as two characters in one: flighty model Deb, who dies in a car accident and, after pushing a button in the afterlife, wakes up in the body of whip-smart, heavyset lawyer Jane. 

It’s a gimmick that could be silly or flat-out stupid if it weren’t for Elliott’s alternatingly funny and heartwarming performance.

Her character has spent the past two years getting used to her new body and life, while still remembering her old one, and it’s been so much fun to watch.

Deb-turned-Jane inherited Jane’s brains during the body jump, and the show’s best moments are when the former airhead starts spouting off legal jargon and facts she didn’t even realize she knew. These “head rushes” always crack me up.

Complicating matters is that the love of Deb’s life, Grayson (Jackson Hurst), is a lawyer working at Jane’s firm; now she has to work alongside him and watch him date other people, but can’t reveal who she really is.

Her guardian angel, Fred (the very cute Ben Feldman), who is earthbound and working as an assistant at the law firm, recently told her that Grayson needs to fall in love with who she is now, not who she was.

That’s where I have to object, your honor: Maybe Grayson and Deb were soul mates, but I don’t think he and Jane are.

Mostly because he’s a big, old dud, if you ask me.

Much more compelling was the chemistry Jane shared with onetime boyfriend Tony (David Denman, who actually made me forget that he was once that lunkhead Roy on “The Office”).

They’re the couple I’m rooting for, so it was heartbreaking when Tony skipped town earlier this season for a job in Washington, D.C.

Will he ever be back? I sure hope so — though there doesn’t seem to be any sign of him in the two-hour season finale, which airs at 9 p.m. Sunday — because Jane sure needs a little lovin’.

Everyone around her is pairing off: Grayson has been romancing a rival lawyer (it’s been pretty boring, like the character himself); Fred and Stacy (April Bowlby), Jane’s roommate and best friend, finally smooched last week; and Jane’s witchy coworker, Kim (Kate Levering), is dating their caddish boss, Parker (Josh Stamberg).

That last storyline has actually made me like Kim, which I never thought would be possible.

And I haven’t even mentioned the always-funny Margaret Cho, who plays Jane’s assistant and trusty sidekick, Teri.

In addition to the talented regular cast members, the show has welcomed some pretty great guest stars: Cybill Shepherd as a nasty fashion designer; Sharon Lawrence as Deb’s mother; Lynchburg native and Broadway vet Faith Prince as Jane’s mother; and Rosie O’Donnell as a judge.

One exception: recent “Bachelor” Jake Pavelka had a bit role in last week’s episode. It proved that an acting career just shouldn’t be in the cards for him — go back to flying planes, buddy.

WHAT: A Mad Breakfast

WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: The Appomattox Courthouse Theatre, 331 Court St. in Appomattox

TICKETS: $7; they can be purchased at Baines Books and Coffee or the Appomattox Visitors Information Center

INFO: (434) 352-8055 or http://www.appomattoxcourthousetheatre.com

SYNOPSIS: The one-act play takes place at a boarding house and shows what happens when one of the residents, Mr. Jones, plays a practical joke by answering an ad in the paper from a man who wants to research the residents of an insane asylum. Jones invites the man to the boarding house, without telling him what it really is, and informs his fellow housemates that their wealthy visitor is simply interested in learning more about their hobbies.

ACME plays a mix of pre-1940s tunes and originals; Lewis is a veteran jazz performer and composer; and Bar-nes’ piano style is rooted in the blues but reflects the whole jazz tradition, from bebop to modernism.

Wine vendors will include Bright Meadows Farm, Hickory Hill Vineyards, Sans Soucy Vineyards, Virginia Mountain Vineyards, Brooks Mill Winery, Lazy Days Winery and Century Beverage Distributors.

Admission is $10 in advance and $15 at the gate. Call (434) 299-5080 or visit http://www.sedaliacenter.org.

Dance Theatre holding open house
Dance Theatre of Lynchburg is holding an open house from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday for those interested in learning more about the dance curriculum and performance season.

Located downtown on Commerce Street, Dance Theatre offers classes in ballet, pointe, modern, rhythm, tap, hip hop and Pilates; the dance education program features American Ballet Theatre’s national training curriculum as its foundation.

Call (434) 846-6272 or visit http://www.dancelynchburg.org for more information.

Roller derby bout in Appomattox
The Blackwater Rollers will be taking on the River City Uncivil Warriors Saturday at AJ Skateworld in Appomattox.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the bout starts at 7.

Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for children and free for kids 5 and younger. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Lynchburg Grows.

Visit http://blackwaterrollers.wordpress.com for more information.

Candlelight Tour auditions scheduled
Old City Cemetery is holding auditions for its Third Annual Candlelight Tour at 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday in the Cemetery Chapel at Fourth and Taylor streets.

There are roles for nine adults, but anyone older than 16 can audition. Scripts will be provided and in monologue format, approximately five minutes in length; they can be picked up now.

Performance dates are Oct. 23, 28, 29 and 30. Actors must be available for all evening rehearsals and perform-ance dates and will be paid a stipend of $150.

Call (434) 847-1465 or e-mail dawn@gravegarden.org for more information.

This is not a joke, by the way. This movie is a complete blast. To borrow a phrase from the kind of B-horror flicks to which “Piranha 3D” is such a loving and effective homage: Run, don’t walk.

Like “Snakes on a Plane,” which came out in the dead of summer four years ago, “Piranha 3D” knows exactly what it is and does exactly what it should do. It’s about piranhas ... in 3-D. Do you really need to know anything else?

It’s cleverly knowing without collapsing into parody.

It makes great use of its extremely random cast, including Elisabeth Shue in an unusually bad-ass role as a sheriff, Ving Rhames as her deputy and Jerry O’Connell as a Joe Francis type. Christopher Lloyd has one great scene in full-on, crazed Christopher Lloyd mode as the resident fish expert. The second you see Eli Roth — playing the emcee at a wet T-shirt contest, no less — you know some hideous fate will befall him. And then there’s Richard Dreyfuss, who makes a very cute cameo off the top. That’s all we’ll say.

But the whole point of this kind of movie is the gore, and French director Alexandre Aja finds hilarious and creative ways to kill off his characters. Not a huge surprise, given his previous movies — the suspenseful “High Tension” and a Wes Craven-approved remake of “The Hills Have Eyes” — but here, there’s a lightness and a sense of fun about the carnage. If that makes sense.

Besides, partying provides the premise for the film. It’s spring break at Lake Victoria, Ariz. — really Lake Havasu — and hordes of drunk, horny college students have arrived to trash their perfect bodies.

But there’s something swimming in the water that can do that much more efficiently. Actually, there are thousands upon thousands of them. The piranhas have razor-sharp teeth and ferocious eyes, but they almost look as if they’re smiling as they prepare to tear into some unsuspecting fool’s flesh. A seismic shift beneath the lake created a rift that unleashed these prehistoric creatures. Now they’re here, and they’re hungry.

In classic horror-movie fashion, the victims get picked off one by one. Sheriff Julie Forester (Shue) and Deputy Fallon (Rhames) discover the first body and call in the scientific experts, led by Adam Scott (cast against type).

But containing the fish is as difficult as stopping the partyers from dancing on boats in their bikinis to generic house music. And so when the inevitable bloodbath happens — and oh yes, it does happen — it’s vast and horrifying but with some giddy glimmers of absurdity sprinkled throughout.

Stuck in the middle of this are Julie’s three kids, the eldest of whom, Jake (Steven R. McQueen), has become an impromptu crew member on a “Girls Gone Wild”-style video shoot.

Yes, there is plenty of nudity and girl-on-girl action here, but again, it’s used with a wink and a smile. “Piranha 3D” knows it needs to titillate on every level.

Visually, though, it was shot in 2-D and then converted to add a third dimension, but it looks better than other films that have followed the same path, including M. Night Shyamalan’s muddled “The Last Airbender.” Still, some of the underwater mayhem is a bit hard to make out, especially when the fish are doing their damage in darkened caves.

But Aja mostly employs the 3-D precisely as he should with this genre: in totally gimmicky, gratuitous ways. A guy sprays beer from a keg and it shoots right at you. A girl has too many tequila shots and yacks off the side of the boat and into your lap. And of course there are the fish, zooming right at you to take a bite.

There could be a moral to this story: Don’t go to the lake and act like a cheesy, drunk idiot during spring break. But that would be no fun.

“Piranha 3D,” a Dimension Films release, is rated R for sequences of strong bloody horror, violence and gore, graphic nudity, sexual content, language, and some drug use. Running time: 82 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.