PEOPLE & 



PLACES 



America's First 

 Mystery: 



The Lost 

 Colony 



By P a m Smith 



M 



-ore than 400 years ago, the real-life 

 drama of Tlie Lost Colony played out on North 

 Carolina's Roanoke Island. A brave band of 

 English settlers — determined to establish the first 

 permanent English settlement in the New World 

 — embarked on an uncertain venture in 1587. 

 Then they vanished without a trace. 



The play by Pulitzer Prize-winning 

 playwright Paul Green dramatizes the historic 

 record of the exploratory voyages commissioned 

 by Sir Walter Raleigh between 1584 and 1587. 



"It's America's first great mystery," says 

 Rhett B. White, executive manager of Tlie Lost 

 Colony, the first and longest-running outdoor 

 symphonic drama in the country. 



The play, produced by the Roanoke Island 

 Historical Association (RIHA), debuted on July 4, 

 1937. In its 66 seasons, more than three million 

 people have watched the story unfold under the 

 stars at Waterside Theatre on the historic site 

 where the settlers were seen last. 



The 2003 season runs through Aug. 22 and 

 is under the artistic direction of Terrence Mann 

 for the third consecutive year. Mann — an award- 

 winning Broadway actor/director and film star — 

 cut his acting teeth as a member of Tlie Lost 

 Colony cast in the 1970s. 



Continued 



LEFT: The Lost Colony settlers seek the protection of 

 Manteo. The cast traditionally includes local and 

 professional actors. Even Andy Griffith launched his 

 career in the 1952 production. 



COASTWATCH 27 



