World-famous puppeteer Basil Twist gives personality to a bundle of cloth and wood that keeps audiences enraptured until the curtain falls. For the next two months he will wield his magic on four local stages during the Twist Festival D.C. The enchantment begins with a performance of “Petrushka” for the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Youth and Family Series.

“In our high-tech world, something magical happens when we are confronted by puppets,” Twist said. “My mother was a puppeteer, and I grew up with ‘Sesame Street’ and going backstage, so I knew what a powerful thing it is to be transported to another dimension by objects that seem to be alive. I’m always drawn to music, and when the Lincoln Center invited me to do a puppet program, I worked on it for two years.