"I am Edward Teach," he said with a slight bow.

With that, Blackbeard the pirate was back.

The title character in the outdoor drama "Blackbeard, Knight of the Black Flag," returned to the stage last Thursday night in a revival of the play by Stuart Aronson of Greenville. It has been 19 years since the fictional Blackbeard trod the boards in Bath, a small coastal town where the real Blackbeard and his cronies cavorted in the early 1700s. He was killed in a battle off Ocracoke island in November 1718.

The original production, presented in a former theater in Bath from 1977 to the mid-1980s, was a summer diversion for many Beaufort County residents who grew up on tales of Blackbeard. Some also recall the music and booming theatrical cannons from the drama.

A mixture of farce and fact, Aronson's play focuses on Blackbeard's courtship and marriage to a young Bath woman, Mary Ormond.

"It's a beautiful love story," said Geoff Thompson, 33, an instructor in communications at East Carolina University, who portrays the pirate this time around.

Thompson grew up in Tampa, Fla., which, he said, also had a colorful association with "pirates and swashbuckling."

"It's really cool to be able to portray a pirate," he said after a dress rehearsal last week.

While Blackbeard was better known for his conquests at sea, Aronson said he was intrigued by the man's relationship with the local woman and attempts to settle down.

Based on a year of research and writing, Aronson portrayed Blackbeard as an intelligent, flawed man who could be ferocious at times and sensitive too. The reputation as a bloodthirsty terror with a flowing black beard was PR intended to frighten recalcitrant opponents and keep unruly comrades in line.

"Everything was out of necessity," Aronson said.

Aronson revived the play as part of the commemoration of Bath's Tricentennial Celebration. Settled in 1705, the quaint village on Bath and Back Creeks is the oldest town in the state.

The drama's new home is the Ormond Amphitheatre, a spacious $250,000 facility located on N.C. 92 about two miles west of Bath. The owners, Tom and Gloria Ormond of Bath, said they developed the family venture to encourage other theatrical productions and concerts.

In a scenario reminiscent of the baseball field in a cornfield in the movie "Field of Dreams," the Ormonds built the amphitheater in a 60-acre cotton field. About three dozen actors came for the initial production of "Blackbeard."

The amphitheater, which can hold 800 to 1,000 people, features removable seats that rest on a gentle slope. Slopes are rare in the flat Beaufort County terrain, so Ormond hauled in 250 truckloads of dirt for elevation.

He said he and his son-in-law, Timothy Griekspoor, designed the 155-foot-wide stage, the side rooms and walls from plans "in his head and mine." They also built a massive prop -- a 30-foot-long ship that holds a climactic battle scene in which Blackbeard is killed.

Ormond, 63, a former heavy equipment salesman who farms 7,000 acres, said he stuck to construction and had no interest in producing a play. Even though Blackbeard married an Ormond, Tom Ormond doesn't claim the pirate as distant kin.

"Nobody knows for sure," he said.

Staff writer Jerry Allegood can be reached in Greenville at (252) 752-8411 or jerrya@newsobserver.com.