The Lost Colony is an outdoor drama about important events in our nation’s history, but the production itself has such a long legacy that it’s an important historical event in its own right.
First performed on July 4, 1937, The Lost Colony is based on Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Green’s script about the 1584 to 1587 English attempts at colonization on Roanoke Island in the New World.
Chuck Still, executive director of the nonprofit Roanoke Island Historical Association (RIHA), which produces The Lost Colony, says the play started with no real plans for a second year. But it made enough money that first year to make it worth producing a second year, so the show kept going. Now The Lost Colony is in its 87th season, and this Saturday night, July 27, the show will stage its 5,000th performance! In that time, more than 4 million people – and one U.S. president (President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 18, 1937) – have seen the play.
Photo: Audience members in 1937 sat on wooden benches; today's seats are far more comfortable.
“Those of us producing the show today have very little to do with the fact that we are staging the 5,000th performance," Still says. "It’s really a testament to the community, the county, the state and all the people who had the foresight to do it in the first place and to keep it going.”
Still explains that there have been plenty of opportunities for The Lost Colony to call it quits. World War II shut down the play for four years.
“After the war, there were real questions about whether it would be remounted,” Still says. “But the community got behind it, and Governor J. Melville Broughton got behind it. In March of 1945, the N.C. General Assembly voted to put The Lost Colony in control of the state, the state came in with support in a big way, and the show was remounted.”
Two years later, in 1947, the entire theater, including all the sets and costumes, burned. The people of Roanoke Island came together to rebuild — and rebuilt the stage in six days. Hurricane Doris took the whole theater out again in 1960. The costume shop burned in 2008. The COVID pandemic shut the show down in 2020. After each setback, the Outer Banks, the state, the National Park Service and people everywhere rallied to make sure the show would go on.
“The real message here is that over 87 years people have kept choosing to make The Lost Colony happen instead of letting it go,” Still says. “It’s all about the people who laid the groundwork to get here and those who have kept guarding its legacy.”
Like all traditions, the outdoor drama has naturally evolved over the years. It has always been true to Green’s original script, but over the last 87 years the telling of the story has progressed and changed in incremental ways. Every generation and different director has added new elements, some subtle, some much more obvious, to the narrative and brought in modern technologies to portray the story in a fresh way that suits the current times. This means that the show we see today is a far cry from the original 1937 production.
Everything from the set and lighting to the narrator, costumes, music and dancing has changed over and over again. And that’s part of what makes the show so long lasting. We all know the story, but how we are entertained in the telling is the fun part.
Photo: Dramatic lighting, puppetry and dynamic choreography create a stunning visual landscape in the modern Lost Colony productions.
The Lost Colony under director and choreographer Jeff Whiting is by far the most progressive and innovative production of the outdoor drama to date. Whiting, who came to The Lost Colony in 2021, has a long and distinguished list of Broadway, Disney, opera, television, concert and special event credits. He brought in new creative talent as well, and their collective experience, expertise and modern technical advances bring the traditional show to a whole new level – something you would expect to see in a big-city setting, not on a tiny North Carolina island. In fact, they employ techniques that have become standard on Broadway but had yet to make it to Roanoke Island, such as light projections, puppetry and 3D mapping. There’s new score and dymanic choreography as well.
One of the most important changes to The Lost Colony has been the move to incorporate the Native American perspective rather than tell it from a singularly European viewpoint. In 2021 Whiting and RIHA sought the counsel of North Carolina’s Lumbee Tribe for help in being more respectful of the Native American perspective, culture and faith. The show now incorporates the Native American viewpoint of the English colonists’ arrival in a much more vital way. The narrator, traditionally a male representing the English perspective, has been changed to a female Native American storyteller. Additionally, The Lost Colony’s Native American roles are now portrayed by Native American actors, and there is more authenticity in the Native American dancing, costumes and cultural representations.
“We’ve entered a new era of the legendary production,” Still says. “While still being true to Paul Green’s original script, the production has been refreshed for the 21st-century audience.”
5,000th Performance of The Lost Colony
Saturday, July 27
Be a part of history by being present on this special night. This show will recognize alumni, including Dorita Balance, who was a child actor in the 1937 season, as well as others other alumni in attendance. There will be a special presentation at the end of the show, and there will be cake. Tickets are available here.
See The Lost Colony
The show runs Monday through Saturday nights at 8:30 p.m. through August 24. Native American Pre-Shows are held Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. and are included in the ticket price. Backstage Tours are held nightly at 7:30 p.m. for an additional charge of $15 per person.
For tickets and more information, go to thelostcolony.org or call (252) 473-6000.
Virginia Dare Baby Auditions
Saturday, July 27
Each season The Lost Colony commemorates the August 18 birthday of Virginia Dare (the first English child born in the New World) by using real babies instead of prop babies during a performance. This is a coveted role for local families, and many residents proudly claim their performance in the role. Since August 18 is a Sunday, this year the babies will be seen in the August 17 performance. Baby tryouts are being held this Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at The Lost Colony administrative building within Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. Babies must be 15 pounds or less. Call Matt Gabbard at (252) 473-2127 with questions.
About the Author Molly Harrison
Molly Harrison is managing editor at OneBoat, publisher of OuterBanksThisWeek.com. She moved to Nags Head in 1994 and since then has made her living writing articles and creating publications about the people, places and culture of the Outer Banks.
