“Columbinus” is a tough play by Stephen Karam and PJ Paparelli that combines interviews and news footage about the Columbine shootings with dramatic and cinematic techniques to explore the human and cultural issues raised by the tragedy. It is not “Grease,” by any means, and though many high schools have produced it successfully, I would not quarrel with the decision by any school official who decided that the show was inappropriate for high school drama and that it would better to do, say, “The Mikado.”

But Lexington High School principal Natalie Cohen managed to make this decision in the worst way imaginable, for the worst reasons imaginable, showing rank ignorance of the purpose of theater while being irresponsibly dismissive of the efforts and creative energies of her students. Emma Feinberg, a student, was directing the difficult show as well as its driving force, and she, the cast, and the crew had been working on it for three months. School plays are not produced in secret: If Cohen didn’t know what play her drama group was presenting and didn’t know what it was about, she should have. But when the school superintendent received one complaint from a concerned parent who felt “Columbinus” wasn’t appropriate high school fare, Cohen, together with the superintendent, collapsed like a soggy house of report cards. She canceled the play.

This by itself was outrageous. Producing and directing any play is like fighting a war; it is a massive undertaking requiring the building of costumes, complex staging, sets, sound and film acquisition; memorizing lines and working out the myriad problems required to adapt a difficult show to school facilities. To allow a group of students to pour their hearts into such a project and then kill it after so much time and passion has been invested is unfair, disrespectful, irresponsible and cruel. The principal neglected her duties, failing to vet the play or deal with the completely predictable issues of language and violence in a timely fashion. Her negligence and inattention created a problem , and she solved it the easy and cowardly way—by shifting the burden of the solution to the students.

What she did was worse than that, however. Rather than admit that she had made a mistake allowing the production to get so far along, rather than confess that this was one more example of a school administrator being willing to do harm to her students rather than risk displeasure from taxpayers, she explained that she was canceling “Columbinus” because it was too depressing.

“I’m not a fan of censorship in any way, and I never thought I would be in this position,” Cohen told the Boston Globe. “But this play, on its face, is so alarming and so unredeeming; you leave the end of the play with: “What do I do? The world is just horrible and out of control.”

You know…like “King Lear.” Like “Oedipus.” Like “Hamlet.” Like most of the works of America’s greatest playwright, Eugene O’Neill. Like “Death of a Salesman,” “All My Sons,” and “The Children’s Hour.” Like “The Crucible” and “Picnic.” That’s drama, Ms. Cohen. That’s why they call it tragedy.

Experiencing tragedy in a theater is a significant part of education, not just for students, but for all of us, to gain perspective and wisdom on this dark house ride we call “life.” Cohen’s excuse for abandoning her students’ creative efforts is that she prefers “The Odd Couple,” “The Sound of Music”and “Hellzapoppin” to a play that deals with the tough aspects of living.

Emma Feinberg, in contrast, said of the play,

“After the Arizona shootings that have happened, I feel there’s need for this play, because now more than ever there’s no taboo about who you shoot or where you shoot. I think there’s an issue with that. I think this play faces that issue and makes people think about why that is. What can we do to change this?’’

What can Cohen possibly teach a serious student like Emma Feinberg? Emma should be teaching her.

Fortunately, theater-lovers are a hardy breed, and there is that “the show must go on” ethic to rely on. Feinberg is looking for another venue for her play, and there is a good chance “Columbinus” will be produced after all. If it is, Cohen won’t come to see it, I guess: she’ll be watching “Glee,” and it’s just as well. This is no play for an Ethics Dunce.