The Lost Colony is an historical outdoor drama, written by American Paul Green and produced since 1937 in Manteo, North Carolina. It is based on accounts of Sir Walter Raleigh's attempts in the 16th century to establish a permanent settlement on Roanoke Island, then part of the Colony of Virginia. The play has been performed in an outdoor amphitheater located on the site of the original Roanoke Colony in the Outer Banks. More than four million people have seen it since 1937. It received a special Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre award in 2013. Historical background The play was written during the Great Depression by Paul Green, who had earlier won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. The Lost Colony marked a shift in his work from more traditional forms of drama to focus on the creation of large-scale outdoor musical spectacles which he termed "Symphonic Dramas." As of 2012, this is the United States's second-longest-running historical outdoor drama, behind The Ramona Pageant produced in Southern California. Before Jamestown and Plymouth were founded, a group of about 120 men, women and children established one of the first English settlements in the New World on Roanoke Island in 1587. Shortly after arriving in this New World, colonist Eleanor Dare, daughter of Governor John White of the colony, gave birth to her daughter Virginia Dare. The governor's granddaughter was believed to be the first English child born in North America. Life on the island was difficult for the colonists. Low on supplies and facing retaliation from the Native Americans they had displaced, the colonists sent Governor White to England in the summer of 1587 for supplies. Because of the impending war with Spain, White was unable to return to Roanoke Island until 1590. When he arrived, he found no evidence of the colony, save the word "CROATOAN" carved into palisade of the fort and a nearby tree with the letters "CRO" similarly inscribed. While some theories hold that the colonists died at the site, the fate of those first colonists remains a matter of scholarly debate. 1937 production On July 4, 1937, The Lost Colony first opened. Annual celebrations of Virginia Dare's birthday, August 18, had been celebrated by the Roanoke Colony Memorial Association since its founding in 1894. The early events were primarily picnic meetings, featuring hymn singing and commemorative speeches. In 1923, the festivities were expanded to include dramatic sketches.