Playwright Dave Harris’s New York debut crackles with humor and suspense—confronting the tactics for surviving institutions that were not built for you.
How do you make it through detention? In the worst high school in the city, six Black students are stuck in Room 111. They flirt. They fight. They tease. Should they follow the rules and stay put, or find an escape? Are the walls keeping them in, or are stronger forces at play?
Exception to the Rule Cast
- Erika
- MaYaa Boateng
- Tommy
- Malik Childs
- Dayrin
- Toney Goins
- Abdul
- Galen Ryan Kane
- Dasani
- Claudia Logan
- Mikayla
- Kadijah Raquel
Exception to the Rule Creative
- Playwright
- Dave Harris
- Set Design
- Reid Thompson
- Lighting Design
- Cha See
- Sound Design
- Lee Kinney
- Director
- Miranda Haymon
Dave Harris is Roundabout’s 2020-21 Tow Foundation Playwright in Residence.
- Alec Baldwin
- James Costa and John Archibald
- Linda L. D’Onofrio
- Peggy and Mark Ellis
- Jodi Glucksman
- Sylvia Golden
- Angelina Lippert
- K. Myers
- Katheryn Patterson and Tom Kempner
- Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater
- Ira Pittelman
- Mary Solomon
- Lauren and Danny Stein
- Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust
- The Tow Foundation
About Roundabout Underground
Roundabout Underground productions are produced in Roundabout's Black Box Theatre located within the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. It is an initiative designed to foster new works by emerging theatre artists. Roundabout Underground allows Roundabout to take artistic risks that are not viable on its larger stages, whether giving a debut production to an emerging writer or allowing an experienced director to go back to his or her creative roots.
In addition to receiving an opportunity to debut their works as full-scale productions, up-and-coming playwrights receive the significant artistic and financial support of the country's largest not-for-profit theatre and a nurturing environment in which to debut their work.
Note: Roundabout Underground productions cannot be purchased as part of a season package.

Presented at
Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre
Black Box Theatre
111 West 46th Street
(between 6th and 7th Avenues)