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Can the Blackbeard outdoor drama be revived?

A Greenville man says he wants to revive an outdoor drama he's written about Blackbeard.

Stuart Aronson, a retired speech and drama professor at East Carolina University, wrote the play -- called "Blackbeard: Knight of the Black Flag" -- in 1977.

The two-act drama played for 10 years at the Bath Outdoor Theater, which is on the waterfront.

"It might not have been the slickest or most professional production," Aronson says, "but people loved it."

The discovery of what experts believe is Blackbeard's ship off the North Carolina coast has spurred interest in almost anything associated with the pirate. The news got Aronson busy on a minor rewrite of his play: "It's the story of Blackbeard trying to give up piracy. I used some poetic license."

In the play, Blackbeard marries a woman from Bath and tries to find legitimate work for his mates. But the townspeople don't care for the pirates' nightly carousing. Virginia Gov. Alexander Spottswood responds to their complaints by sending some Royal Navy seamen to capture the pirate.

The play includes a scene in which Blackbeard gets his head chopped off.

In the best of all worlds, Aronson says, he'd like to build a replica of Blackbeard's house on a piece of land called Plum Point, where some believe the pirate lived. The house would serve as a museum for artifacts recovered from his ship.

Next to the house, he'd build a state-of-the-art, outdoor theater to house his revived play.

"It would take a lot of money, but the state has money," Aronson says. "I'm convinced that this is a play -- like 'The Lost Colony' -- that could run forever.

The state already has 11 outdoor dramas.

"This would be a great addition," says Betty McCain, the secretary of the state Department of Cultural Resources, who saw the Aronson's play during its original run. "I think it was very well done."

Beyond initial interest, McCain says the state isn't ready to commit to the project, noting that Aronson will probably need to secure private money to get Blackbeard back on the stage.