{{Short description|Play written by Paul Green}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{italic title}} {{Infobox play | name = Cross and Sword | image = | alt = | caption = | writer = Paul Green | chorus = | characters = {{plainlist}} * Pedro Menéndez * Philip II * Jean Ribault {{endplainlist}} | mute = | setting = St. Augustine, Florida | premiere = {{Start date|1965|06|27}} | place =St. Augustine Amphitheatre, St. Augustine, Florida | orig_lang = English | series = | subject =Reenactment of the founding of St. Augustine | genre = Historical | web = |orig_run=1965-1996}} '''''Cross and Sword''''' was a 1965 play by American playwright Paul Green created to honor the 400th anniversary of the settlement of St. Augustine. It was Florida's official state play, having received the designation by the Florida Senate in 1973.<ref name="flher-play">[http://www.flheritage.com/facts/symbols/symbol.cfm?page=2&id=21 Florida State Symbols - The State Play: Cross and Sword] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607081614/http://www.flheritage.com/facts/symbols/symbol.cfm?page=2&id=21 |date=June 7, 2008 }}</ref> It was performed for ten weeks every summer in St. Augustine for more than 30 years, closing in 1996.<ref name=njo082108/><ref name=ocala082208/><ref name="guide-rajtar">{{cite book |title=A Guide to Historic St. Augustine, Florida |last=Rajtar |first=Steve |author2=Kelly Goodman |year=2008 |publisher=The History Press |isbn=978-1-59629-336-6 |pages=52–53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZyrHSTZUw0cC }}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
==Beginning== The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Green created a play in 1937 about Walter Raleigh's Roanoke Colony entitled ''Lost Colony''. It was written as a "symphonic drama" blending music, dance, pantomime, and poetic dialogue into a larger-than-life historical play. In 1965 Green was commissioned to write a play commemorating the 400th anniversary of the founding of St. Augustine.<ref name=njo082108>{{cite web |url=http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Entertainment/Music/entMUS01082108.htm |title=Amped at the amphitheatre |access-date=2008-09-07 |author=de Yampert, Rick |date=2008-08-21 |publisher=Daytona Beach News-Journal Online}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> <ref name=ocala082208>{{cite web |url=http://www.ocala.com/article/20080822/LIVING05/570971/1027&title=St__Augustine_gets_amped |title=St. Augustine gets amped |access-date=2008-09-07 |author=Reinink, Amy |date=2008-08-22 |publisher=Ocala Star Banner}}</ref><ref name="official-specs">[http://www.staugamphitheatre.com/specs.php St. Augustine Amphitheatre - Venue - Specs] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219160225/http://www.staugamphitheatre.com/specs.php |date=2008-12-19 }}</ref> The play was to be performed at the newly constructed, 2,000 seat St. Augustine Amphitheatre. The result was ''Cross and Sword: A Symphonic Drama of the Spanish Settlement of Florida''.<ref name="green-biblio">[http://www.ibiblio.org/paulgreen/bibliography.html Paul Green Bibliography]</ref> The play is a musical reenactment depicting Florida's early history at St. Augustine, especially its colonization by Spaniard Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and his settlers' bloody conflicts with French Huguenots at Fort Caroline in present-day Jacksonville.
==End== Production for ''Cross and Sword'', with its large cast and elaborate costumes and props, was expensive.<ref name=lostparks>[http://www.lostparks.com/crossandsword.html Florida's Lost Tourist Attractions: Cross and Sword]</ref> For many years, costs were partially subsidized by the state. However, changes to state rules led to a decrease in funding. Faced with a decreased budget and an aging theater in need of renovation, ''Cross and Sword'' lobbied for $27,000 from the state Division of Cultural Affairs in 1997, but the proposal was rejected. After the 1996 season, the production closed.<ref name=lostparks/> In 2002, St. Johns County acquired and renovated the amphitheater, turning it into a concert venue.<ref name="njo082108"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1965 plays Category:Plays by Paul Green Category:Culture of Florida Category:Plays set in Florida Category:Colonial United States (Spanish) Category:Plays set in the 16th century Category:Plays based on actual events Category:Cultural depictions of Walter Raleigh Category:St. Augustine, Florida Category:Symbols of Florida