The Lost Colony Special to the Daily Reflector by Susan Butler
The first and longest running outdoor drama, The Lost Colony, began its 71st season at the Wayside Theatre on Roanoke Island heralding in another summer’s promise of Outer Banks fun and festivities. Paul Green penned the play to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the birth of Virginia Dare, the first child of European descent to be born in the new world and granddaughter of John White, governor of the colonists who attempted to establish the first permanent English settlement in the New World in 1587 which ended disastrously. The play opened on July 4, 1937, on the site where the colonists first settled and mysteriously disappeared. The Lost Colony play was expected to run only that one year; however, audience attendance was so high that the play continued thereafter—except for four years during World War II when German U-boats patrolled the shore just off the Outer Banks. The Lost Colony play is now considered a state and national treasure.
The Verona Joyner Langford North Carolina Collection has many of the souvenir programs that accompanied each production of The Lost Colony, beginning with the first program in 1937. These programs contain a treasure trove of stories about the cast of characters, the production, and the history of the first English settlements written by Frank Stick, William S. Powell, Prof. Frederick Koch, Dr. A.R. Newsome, and Dr. C.C. Crittendon. Aycock Brown provided wonderful photographs of local scenes along the Outer Banks as well as capturing of the play and its cast. Brief biographical sketches can be found for the distinguished alumni who were a part of the play’s production included a young Andrew Griffith cast as Sir Walter Raleigh, along with his wife, Barbara, who played Eleanor Dare, the mother of Virginia. Griffith and his wife took part in the production during summers and during the rest of the year they taught at the high school in Goldsboro. North Carolina’s Senator Pro Tempore, Marc Basnightportrayed one of the colonist children for several seasons and his mother, Cora Mae Basnight, was a long time cast member as well, NPR newscaster Carl Kasell, comedian Chris Elliot, director and actor Terry Mann, as well as a host of other famous folk.
Many people are aware of the devastating fire that occurred in September 2007 and destroyed more than 1,000 costumes used in the play, but this is not the first fire to have affected production. The Wayside Theatre burned to the ground in 1947 and was quickly rebuilt by local residents.
Those who are interested in tracing the history of the production of The Lost Colony can find the programs in the North Carolina Collection during its regular hours Monday-Thursday 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m., Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5 p.m., Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., and Sunday 1:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Susan Butler is a staff member in the North Carolina Collection.
