Among the reasons for the cancellation, the principal, Timothy H. Canty, cited his concern that the production might be seen as biased against the war and might ruffle feelings in the community, which had lost one recent graduate to the war. He also said he did not think there was enough classroom and rehearsal time to ensure “a legitimate instructional experience.”  After an article in The New York Times about the cancellation prompted furious debate, the school district’s lawyer ruled that the production could go forward as long as it was not presented as a school-sponsored event. That ruling cleared the way for the cast, half of whom are graduating, to accept offers from a number of high-wattage theaters to stage the play at no cost.  “I’m glad the play was banned, in a way, because we would never have gotten to see it otherwise,” said John Simon, a former head of the Connecticut branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, who had come to Fairfield to lead a panel discussion after the show.  Included on the panel was Yvonne Latty, an author of “In Conflict: Iraq War Veterans Speak Out on Duty, Loss and the Fight to Stay Alive,” a book that provided inspiration and source material for the students’ play. She said she was moved by the performance, especially seeing 18-year-old Erin Clancy thoroughly inhabit the “40-year-old black woman in Oklahoma with post-traumatic stress,” whom she had profiled in her book.  Ms. Dickinson said, “It’s a wonderful feeling to know people are going to see this play, when I imagined we were going to be tossing it aside and never working on it again.”  Miles Marek, the producing director for the Fairfield Theater Company, said, “What attracted us to this project was the fact that the students were trying to tackle some challenging material and were being shut down and censored. We’re sending troops all around the world to liberate Iraq and Afghanistan, and yet we’re having to defend our own freedom of speech back home. It doesn’t seem right as the lesson we’re teaching our children in schools.”  Wilton school administrators were in short supply in the opening night crowd, but Ms. Clancy said Mr. Canty tapped her on the shoulder at school earlier that day and wished her luck.  Elliott Landon, the superintendent of nearby Westport’s public schools, said he thought the play was “very well done.” Asked if he thought it ought to have been canceled by the Wilton school, Dr. Landon said, “Not on the basis of what was presented tonight.”  The production returns to the Fairfield Theater at 7:30 p.m. Friday. That night’s panel will include the playwright Willy Holtzman.  The student production will then be performed at the Vineyard Theater in New York City at 5 p.m. on Saturday; at the Culture Project at 8 p.m. on Sunday, followed by a panel featuring the filmmaker and actor Stanley Tucci; and at the Public Theater at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 15. The Vineyard is offering its 100 seats free on a first-come-first-served basis. All other sites are already sold out.  There were the predictable opening-night glitches on Wednesday. One cast member, Mike Ward, was told he had to step in because another cast member, Chris Kozlowski had a conflict. “He had a lacrosse game that got moved because of rain and his mom said he couldn’t leave,” said Devon Fontaine, 16, a fellow cast member. In the end, Mr. Kozlowski raced in on time.  The students also had to juggle rehearsals between last Saturday’s prom at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, Conn. and next week’s finals.  On June 12, Ms. Dickinson will begin auditions at the high school for the fall play, selected she says with an eye toward generating minimal fuss: Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.”  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B6 of the New York edition with the headline: For Student Play About Iraq War, Banned in School, Curtains Finally Go Up in Connecticut. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
The play, called “Voices in Conflict,” attempts to portray the views of soldiers and others on the Iraq war in their own words.