From the mountains to the sea, North Carolina replays its past every summer. Drama abounds under the stars in the mystery at Manteo, the treachery at Cherokee and deliverance at Snow Camp. Here's a rundown of summer's outdoor dramas, including a Shakespeare festival in Asheville and the local production "Amistad Saga 'Reflections' " in Raleigh.

The Lost Colony

Manteo, May 30-Aug. 20

Paul Green's symphonic drama depicts the valiant struggle of 117 men, women and children to settle in the New World in 1587. They disappeared more than 400 years ago without a trace.

Waterside Theatre, 1409 National Park Drive, Manteo. (252) 473-2127, www.thelostcolony.org. Lodging, restaurants and attractions: www.outerbanks.org, (877) 629-4386.

Unto These Hills ... A Retelling

Cherokee, June 13-Aug.30

From the arrival in the Appalachian Mountains of Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto in 1540, to the removal of the Cherokee Indians to Oklahoma along the tragic "Trail of Tears," Ben Hurst and Pal Allee's drama paints a vivid portrait of the Eastern Band of Cherokee and their brave leaders.

Mountainside Theater, U.S. 441, Cherokee. (828) 497-2111, www.cherokee-nc.com. Lodging, restaurants and attractions: www.cherokee-nc.com, (800) 438-1601.

Horn in the West

Boone, June 20-Aug. 16

Set in the southern Appalachian mountain region of North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War, the Kermit Hunter-Peter MacBeth drama follows frontiersman Daniel Boone and his band of mountain settlers as they struggle against the British militia.

June 15-Aug. 11, Hickory Ridge Homestead, Boone. (828) 264-2120, www.horninthewest.com. Lodging, restaurants and attractions: visitboonenc.com, (800) 852-9506.

Montford Park Players

Asheville, June 6-Sept. 28

Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra," "Henry VIII" and "As You Like It" plus Christopher Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus."

Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre, West Chestnut Street, Asheville. (828) 254-5146, www.montfordparkplayers.org. Lodging, restaurants and attractions: www.exploreasheville.com, (828) 258-6102.

Tom Dooley: A Wilkes County Legend

Wilkesboro, June 20-July 5

"Tom Dooley" is Karen Wheeling Reynolds' drama about the 1868 Wilkes County love triangle that resulted in the murder of Laura Foster and the hanging of Tom Dulah (pronounced Dooley). Folklore and legend indicate that Tom confessed to protect his true love, Anne Melton.

Forest Edge Amphitheatre, Fort Hamby Park, U.S. 421, Wilkesboro. (336) 838-7529, www.wilkesplaymakers.com. Lodging, restaurants and attractions: www.wilkesnc.org, (336) 838-8662.

The Sword of Peace / Pathway to Freedom

Snow Camp, June 26-Aug. 30

"The Sword of Peace" is William Hardy's dramatization of the conflict faced by the N.C. Cane Creek Society of Friends in the Revolutionary War when, as peaceful Quakers, they are forced to defend their basic tenet of nonviolence.

"Pathway to Freedom" is Mark R. Sumner and Ann Hunt-Smith's account of anti-slavery North Carolinians and freed African-Americans who helped hundreds of slaves flee to the North before the Civil War.

Snow Camp Historic Site, Greensboro Chapel Hill Road, Snow Camp. (800) 726-5115, www.snowcampdrama.com. Lodging, restaurants and attractions: www.burlington-area-nc.org, (800) 637-3804.

From This Day Forward

Valdese, July 5-Aug. 9

Fred Cranford uses music, dance and drama to tell the story of the Waldenses, a religious sect that arose in southeast France in the late 1100s. It centers on the struggle to survive persecution in their homeland, and their arrival in North Carolina in 1893 to establish a colony at Valdese.

Old Colony Amphitheatre, Church Street, Valdese. (828) 874-0176, www.oldcolonyplayers.com. Lodging, restaurants and attractions: www.visitvaldese.com, (828) 879-2126.

Amistad Saga 'Reflections'

Raleigh, July 17-27

Playwright Ann Hunt-Smith and composer Reggie Jeffries bring to life the story of the 1839 mutiny aboard the slave ship Amistad that marked the beginning of the end of slavery in the United States.

African American Cultural Complex, 119 Sunnybrook Road, Raleigh. 250-9336, www.aaccmuseum.org.

First for Freedom

Halifax, early July

Max B. Williams' drama celebrates events that led to the signing of the Halifax Resolves on April 12, 1776, the first formal declaration of independence from Great Britain by an American colony.

The Centre, Halifax Community College, Halifax. Call for dates. (252) 538-4336. Lodging, restaurants and attractions: www.visithalifax.com, (800) 522-4282.

Strike at the Wind!

Pembroke, TBA

Randolph Umberger and Willie French Lowery's musical centers on Henry Berry Lowrie, a Civil War Robin Hood in Robeson County with a bounty on his head. (910) 521-0835, www.strikeatthewind.com/drama.htm. Lodging, restaurants and attractions: www.lumberton-nc.com, (800) 359-6971

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