The-Burg.com - Central Virgina's Arts, Culture and Entertainment Weekly

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.”

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.

Wintergreen Performing Arts’ 5th Annual Blue Ridge Mountain Music Fest celebrates bluegrass music and its predecessor, old-time.

A beach bash; musical acts come to Cattle Annie’s, The Whole Note and Rapunzel’s; and a call for cookbook submissions.

When it comes to her art, Edrie Bays says she just can’t leave well enough alone.

Kyler Johnson didn’t know if acting would be his thing.

“I’m usually outside on my skateboard,” says the 9-year-old Altavista Middle School student.