About the Institute of Outdoor Drama

On August 1, 2010, the Institute of Outdoor Drama became a public service agency of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at East Carolina University. It was established in 1963 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  It is the only organization in the U.S. providing national leadership in fostering artistic and managerial excellence and expansion of the outdoor drama movement through training, research and advisory programs.  The Institute serves as a national clearinghouse for more than 101 constituent theatre companies across the nation.

North Carolina has been the nation’s definitive center for information on writing and producing modern American Epic Drama, since the 1937 production of the nation’s first outdoor historical drama, Paul Green’s famed history play, The Lost Colony at Manteo, North Carolina.

The Institute gathers information related to outdoor writing, management, and production and distributes that information to production companies, planners, the news media and artists in the field.  It works with writers, lawyers, directors, architects, managers, promoters, performers and designers, and experts in marketing and travel.

Research by the Institute indicates that the outdoor drama field, consisting of approximately 38 historical dramas, 8 religious dramas, 35 musical theatre productions, 51 Shakespeare festivals producing 105 Shakespeare plays, 32 non-musical productions and 9 children's shows and employs 5,000 people and has an annual economic impact on the U.S. travel and tourism industry of approximately $500 million.