'The Lost Colony' returns, with new costumes
Posted: May. 31 10:37 p.m. Updated: 28 minutes ago
Manteo, N.C. — The longest running outdoor drama in the country – "The Lost Colony" – opened its 71st season this weekend with more than 1,000 new costumes, less than a year after a devastating fire.
Only a few costumes that were on exhibit elsewhere survived the September 2007 fire that destroyed the group's costume shop, maintenance building and storage shed. Damage at the Waterside Theatre totally nearly $3 million.
“The whole area ... is deeply rooted in history, and you just hate to see anything with historical value destroyed,” said Tony Duvall, of the Roanoke Island Fire Department.
However, Randi Winter, an actress from Apex, described the opening night as a “new beginning” for the summer show about the disastrous first attempt at a permanent English settlement in the New World in 1587.
Tony-award-winning designer William Ivey Long and his New York-based staff of 60 spent the past month in Manteo attempting to re-creating the costumes. They surrounded themselves with enlarged photos of costumes from previous years for inspiration.
"This has been the greatest challenge and, for me, the greatest assignment of my entire life," Long said.
Cont. here:
http://www.wral.com/entertainment/story/2971461/
View Queen Elizabeth's New Costume here:
http://www.wral.com/entertainment/image/2971500/?img_list=2971500%2C1951328%2C1801840%2C1803973%2C1811167%2C1999624&ref_id=2971461
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Lost Colony Drama is Back Thanks to the Generosity of Many
Friday, May 23, 2008
Lost Colony Outdoor Drama Readies for Opening Night
ROANOKE ISLAND, N.C. (WAVY.com) -- Where there once was ash and wood, stands a two story building, dedicated to the spirit of community. "I can't think of another place that would celebrate the arts of the theater in this extraordinary manner."
The Lost Colony's costume shop is no longer lost. "Totally made by hand Roanoke Island creations, that's really what we're celebrating today with this specific shop," says award winning production designer William Ivey Long.
Long stood alongside a dozen others to celebrate the opening of the new shop. Last September a fire destroyed the shop and its costumes. Actor Andy Griffith and his wife Cindi cut the ribbon.
Griffith got his start on the very stage that burned in the 1940's. "All of the ladies dressing rooms, two-thirds of the stage burned in 1947. I was here, I was playing the first soldier that year."
And like so many others, he helped rebuild it in six days. " I was a carpenter...I was part of one of the carpenters who built the ladies dressing room. Good choice, yes."
As was then, is now says Executive Director Carl Curnutte. "People from all across the country have been contributing with costumes, donations, fabrics, the labor of the building, its just been amazing seeing the outpouring of support we've actually had."
More here:
http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=8367104&nav=23ii
Costumes returned to the Lost Colony
Fire destroys vintage costumes used in 'The Lost Colony'
North Carolina: Birthplace of the Outdoor Drama; Continues Rich Tradition
Outdoor drama is a melding of literature and landscape. North Carolina – with its scenic beauty, history and love of storytelling – is its birthplace. Ten outdoor dramas take to the North Carolina stage this summer. Most are historical in nature, depicting actual events near the site where history happened.
Cinematic in scale and production quality, outdoor dramas are staged in huge amphitheaters with mountains, rolling hills and beaches as backdrops. They feature music and dance, huge casts of extras, special effects like pyrotechnics, beautiful costumes, battles and even horse-drawn wagon trains.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Lost Colony Outdoor Drama Receives Big Boost From C of C
| Chamber of Commerce supports The Lost Colony |
The funds will assist the drama's rebuilding efforts following the devastating September fire. Margaret Wells, co-chairman of the Chamber's Costume Fund Drive, presented the check to Chris Seawell, Board Chairman of the Roanoke Island Historical Association (RIHA).
Funds from the award will be used to assist The Lost Colony's costuming costs as items must be rebuilt and replaced following the September fire that destroyed three buildings and their contents.
The Chamber and its members are now a part of The Lost Colony's Shining Stars -- businesses, organizations and individuals who have provided extraordinary support to assist the outdoor drama since the tragedy.
Cont. Here:
Saturday, October 20, 2007
First of many replacement 'Lost Colony' costumes finished
By KRISTIN DAVIS,
The Virginian-Pilot © October 19, 2007
ROANOKE ISLAND
The Richmond fabric store, the one she'd shopped at all the years she'd lived in the city, had almost everything the costumer needed.
It didn't always turn out that way. There had been times when Joan Brumbach stopped in and couldn't find a thing. But she was lucky that Saturday almost two weeks ago. She needed 125 yards of all-natural fabrics right away.
Brumbach had been charged with making the first five replacement costumes for "The Lost Colony," the 70-year-old play that lost its costume shop and everything inside in a Sept. 11 fire at Roanoke Island's Waterside Theatre.
She had less than two weeks.
The costumes, fit for four Elizabethan ladies and one gentleman, were needed for the opening of a North Carolina Museum of History exhibit in Raleigh today.
Later, they will go into "The Lost Colony" costume stock.
There are no patterns to start from. The fire got those, too. But the costume bibles - big binders full of descriptions and photographs of every look at every angle - survived because they were someplace else.
This is where Brumbach starts.
White petticoat, bum roll, colored petticoat, colonist skirt (pinned up), white colonist blouse, colonist bodice, white cap. Times four. Good colonist breeches, good colonist shirt, good colonist singlet, Plymouth vendor hat.
Full Article Here:
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=134989&ran=124526
