ruth waalkes: we've been looking forward to having blair thomas and this particular production of moby dick very very much for a number of reasons. i have worked with blair in the past in other locations so i'm familiar with his work. i've seen the kind of development, the kind of creative work that he does, not only what he does on stage as well, but the educational components. and that was one of the reasons we were really excited to bring blair here to blacksburg was to have him engage with students. joe dashiell: have you seen a production like this center for the arts? ruth waalkes: you know i think this is actually the first puppetry theater production that we've had. we've done a number of different kinds of programs over the 2 1/2 years now that we've been in the building. we have a pretty diverse program, but this really is the first true puppetry performance which is pretty exciting in itself. so the whole definition of what puppetry is, is something that's pretty broad and very very diverse. you know i think we tend to think of puppetry for young audiences and this is a prog

in the shadow of moby dick is a production of blair thomas and company puppet theater. it premieres at the center for the arts at virginia tech on friday night at 7:30. kimberly, if you need more information, we're including a link with this story on wdbj7-dot-com. we saw a very small part of the production on tuesday, but what we saw was impressive. police in the netherlands have come up with a new idea to get rid of drones. how they hope to minimize the number of those gadgets in the air. a church in williamsburg kicked off black history month with a special ceremony. how the "let freedom ring" event together. followsrain boots rain jackets umbrellas you have it all today we got the rain starting out in this morning could pick up in intensity already some be in effect until about six o'clock for areas, along the blue ridge is were we could have some enhance rainfall today right now those look all that impressive but just to our west is were were finding some of the heaviest of rain right along that front that will move in during the afternoon it's so here's what happe

blair thomas has been working on the production for five years. the world premiere is friday night at the center for the arts at virginia tech. and thomas says "in the shadow of moby dick" is not a traditional puppet show. director: and so we use at different times we're using different kinds enhance that story to see video projection. you're going to hear this live music and this visual spectacle. you'll see the ocean come forward. you'll see the giant whale come forward and these kinds of things all through the kind of theatrical magic. "in the shadow of moby dick" is a production of the theater. it premieres at the center for the arts at virginia tech on friday night at 7:30. for more this story on t flood riskis deftly a slow goal that this afternoon with that heavy rain that's been moving through ponding water some flash flooding be reported across erie with of the heaviest of rain across patchy county warning so we have the watches and warnings watches come first the and warnings me flooding is either imminent or is it the winter kirk we got