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WILLOUGHBY, Ohio (AP) — A public school superintendent in northeast Ohio has postponed this weekend's premier of a student opera after a Washington-based civil rights group complained the work is religious in nature and violates constitutional protections.
The superintendent of Willoughby-Eastlake school district outside Cleveland told media outlets that the group, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, threatened to sue the school district if Willoughby South High School students performed an opera titled "I Am Martol" written by the school's choir director. Performances had been scheduled for Friday through Sunday.
The opera's main themes are sin and redemption. An official from the civil rights group said someone from the school district had alerted the organization about the opera.
The superintendent said district lawyers would decide if the opera can be performed later.
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