
DATE: Friday, June 6, 1997                  TAG: 9706060624

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JENNIFER LANGSTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: MANTEO                            LENGTH:   88 lines

``THE LOST COLONY'' LIVES ON AS THEY HAVE DONE FOR 60 YEARS, LOCAL RESIDENTS ATTEND DARE NIGHT TO PREVIEW THE HISTORICALLY BASED PRODUCTION AT THE WATERSIDE THEATRE. WEDNESDAY'S PERFORMANCE WAS ON A CHILLY EVENING. AUDIENCES USUALLY CONTEND WITH HEAT AND MOSQUITOES.

Under a frigid night sky, Dare County residents wrapped themselves in Daffy Duck blankets, hooded sweatshirts and scarves to keep warm for the latest unveiling of ``The Lost Colony.''

``We've been talking about what a great memory for the girls it will be to watch all wrapped up in jackets and blankets,'' said Sarah Massey of Manteo, who brought her daughter and friends to the show. ``Usually we're swatting mosquitoes and fanning ourselves with programs.''

As couples huddled close together in temperatures in the 50s, they got the first look at several elaborate new sets in the outdoor drama first presented 60 years ago.

Dare Night is a test run of the show, and county residents get in free with proof of residence and food donations. Tonight the regular season gets under way, with U.S. Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C., a special guest.

``Dare Night is our toughest audience because they're so smart. Some of them have seen every show for 60 years,'' said William Ivey Long, the show's production designer. ``They've seen ideas come and go so they'll tell us if it's any good.''

Residents agreed that the production grows more colorful and authentic each year.

``It seems like they always add something to it so the audience will be surprised. The costumes are a lot better. The props are a lot better. They're still telling the same story, but they have more to work with,'' said Shirley Brinkley, a Nags Head resident who first saw the play in the first grade.

The story unfolds in the Waterside Theatre, an amphitheater built on the spot where 117 men, women and children set foot more than 400 years ago, ``The Lost Colony'' traces the hardships and eventual disappearance of the first English settlement in the New World in 1587.

This year, in honor of the play's 60th anniversary, designers have created an authentic Algonkian Indian village for the opening scenes. They used watercolors painted by James White, the first governor of the Roanoke Island colony, as models for the sets.

Before the show this year, actors also stage a Native American ceremonial dance with feathered staffs and tree branches as the audience settles into the backless benches. Indian children play catch with gourds, women prepare food and men return from a hunt with wild animals.

``We want to provide not just a theatrical presentation, but bring history to life for the audience. When they come through the gate, it's like they're transported to a living Indian village,'' said Eric Hause, director of marketing for ``The Lost Colony.''

Long also designed an inventive folding set, which he compares to an origami box, for several scenes set in England.

It first opens to reveal a Tudor tavern.

Later, the set turns into Queen Elizabeth's palace chambers when Sir Walter Raleigh petitions her to send supplies to the colonists.

Long created a throne, a handpainted globe based on Elizabethan maps of the world, and period paintings. Previously a simple tapestry served as the backdrop, and audiences had to use their imaginations.

``Audiences have gotten more sophisticated by leaps and bounds, especially with new movies like `Braveheart' and `Last of the Mohicans,' which are very authentic. So that really challenges us,'' Long said.

With a new $2 million federal and state grant, show organizers have begun making improvements to the amphitheater itself. This season they installed a state-of-the-art sound system.

It uses compact discs for the soundtrack and surrounds the audience with sound. They also replaced the lights, which had been used since 1960 and had suffered in the salty air.

Despite the unseasonably cool weather, local residents said the improvements added to the festive atmosphere and offset the temperatures that left them shivering at the end of the 2 1/2-hour drama.

Genna Miles, who now lives in Manteo, came to the show with her family from New York for 13 years during the 1950s.

``I can't tell you much about how the costumes and sets have changed,'' she said. ``I just remember this being the most exciting thing as a kid.'' ILLUSTRATION: DREW C. WILSON photo/The Virginian-Pilot

The colonists, in the foreground, make a sneak attack on the Native

American settlement during the first act of Manteo's long-running

symphonic drama, ``The Lost Colony.'' The popular entertainment will

continue through the summer months.

Color photo

DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot

The Native American boy Wano, played by Robby Kretz, meets the

Historian, played by Tim Herman.