Outdoor drama The Lost Colony is taking pride in its Tony Award. The recognition – the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre – is given each year to individuals or organizations who have made major contributions to American theatre, but aren’t eligible for regular Tony Awards. The prize honoring The Lost Colony came during a cocktail party Saturday in New York, before the regular awards were presented Sunday night. The country’s longest-running symphonic outdoor drama has been in production every summer since 1937 on the Outer Banks. The Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre notes that artists including Andy Griffth, Lynn Redgrave and Terrence Mann performed in the play based on the story of the early English colonists who vanished from their Outer Banks settlement. The show got its start with one of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs funding theatre and other live performances during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Lost Colony celebrated its special recognition on Tuesday (yesterday), inviting all those ever involved with or fans of the outdoor drama to come to the stage in Manteo to share stories and view the Tony for themselves.
On a related note, five-time Tony Award-winning costume designer William Ivey Long returned this year for his 43rd season with The Lost Colony. Long won a Tony for Best Costume Design of a Musical this past Sunday for Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, currently on Broadway.