North Carolina Residents Hold Prayer Circle For 'Inappropriate' Play Held at School

A recent production held in Mitchell County, North Carolina, was shut down mid-performance by residents who claimed it was "inappropriate." Residents then held a prayer circle following the play.

The play, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged, was being performed by a company from Parkway Playhouse at Mitchell High School, according to local news source WLOS.

Toe River Arts Council, the group who helps to put on the plays, has apologized for the content, which it also deems inappropriate for high school students.

"We realize that there was inappropriate content in the original script of the play which we were told was to be edited to make it appropriate for high school audiences," reads the official statement from Toe River Arts Council.

The play was immediately stopped when a member of the school's staff noticed drinking being portrayed on stage, as well as inappropriate language and depiction of suicide.

Parkway Playhouse executive director Jeff Bachar said that there was nothing included in the play that is not in Shakespeare's original works.

"All of that is in the play," he said. "You're talking about Shakespeare. Shakespeare is required reading as part of the North Carolina state curriculum, and Shakespeare wrote about a lot of the things reflecting the world he lived in and, honestly, the world we live in."

Bachar said that, moving forward, it will be important to be upfront with the teachers and staff about the content of what is being presented, as well as having discussions with the audience afterward.

Read more on WLOS.

Reduced Shakespeare Company, the creators of the play, responded via Twitter, claiming that, if anything, they make Shakespeare "cleaner."