Exception to the Rule Upstage Guide

Spotlight on Exception to the Rule.

Spotlight on Exception to the Rule Creative Team.

Playwright Dave Harris

Set Design Reid Thompson and Kamil James

Lighting Design Cha See

Director Miranda Haymon

Costume Design Sarita Fellows

Sound Design Lee Kinney

What is the show about?

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?

WHERE

An inner-city classroom.

WHEN

Now.

Who: Meet the characters.

Intercom
An adult voice of authority that makes periodic announcements that blast through the halls of the school throughout the day.

Mikayla
A resourceful student with a big personality who frequently finds herself in detention.

Tommy
A student battling past trauma who is soft-spoken but wants to appear tough. A loyal friend.

Dayrin
A cocky, loud student who often instigates fights between his peers.

Dasani
A peacemaker, pragmatic and thoughtful, who often tries to help her fellow students move past their differences.

Abdul
A proud, morally-driven student who isn’t afraid to fight for what he believes in, no matter the cost.

Erika
A well-rounded student who strives for academic excellence; a newcomer to detention.

Back to the Exception to the Rule Upstage Guide table of contents

Dave Harris

Playwright

DAVE HARRIS (he/him) (Playwright) is a poet and playwright from West Philly. He is the Tow Playwright-in-Residence at Roundabout. Selected plays include Tambo & Bones (Playwrights Horizons, Center Theatre Group, 2022), Exception to The Rule (Roundabout Theatre Company, 2022), and Everybody Black (Humana Festival 2019). His first feature film, Summertime premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Selected honors include: the Ollie Award, The Lorraine Hansberry Award and Mark Twain Award from The Kennedy Center, The International Commendation for The Bruntwood Prize, and a Cave Canem poetry fellowship. Dave is currently writing the feature adaptation of The Fortress of Solitude amongst several other feature and television projects.

Reid Thompson

Set Design

REID THOMPSON (Co-Scenic Designer). For Roundabout: Something Clean, Too Heavy For Your Pocket, …what the end will be. Recent NYC: Wives (Playwrights Horizons); Eddie and Dave (Atlantic); Wilder Gone (Clubbed Thumb); Fruiting Bodies (Ma-Yi); A Delicate Ship (Playwrights Realm). Recent Regional: When Monica Met Hillary (Miami New Drama); You Lost Me (Denver Center); Queen (Geva); A Dolls House: Part Two (Actors Theater of Louisville); Miss You Like Hell (Baltimore Center Stage). Opera: Fidelio, La Susanna, Butterfly, Dido, Lucia (Heartbeat Opera). TV: “Jigsaw”, “Bridge and Tunnel”, “And Just Like That”. MFA: Yale School of Drama. reidthompsondesign.com

Kamil James

Set Design

KAMIL JAMES (Co-Scenic Designer) (he/him) is a Bronx-born, Brooklyn-bred artist and set designer who’s excited about his Roundabout debut. When he’s not working in theatre, he’s a teaching assistant at the International Center of Photography or he’s working in T.V. Kamil is an alum of SUNY Purchase (BFA) and a Wingspace Mentee (2019). kamiljames.com

Cha See

Lighting Design

CHA SEE (Lighting Design). Highlights include: You Will Get Sick; Covenant (Roundabout Theatre); Cole Escola’s Oh, Mary! (Broadway); Wet Brain (Obie Special Citations, Lortel Nomination for Outstanding Lighting Design); Babbitt (La Jolla Playhouse); JORDANS (Public Theater); On That Day in Amsterdam (Drama Desk and Lortel Nominations for Oustanding Lighting Design); What to Send Up When It Goes Down (A.R.T. and National Tour); soft (MCC). @seethruuu

Miranda Haymon

Director

MIRANDA HAYMON (she/they) (Director). Miranda is a Princess Grace Award winning writer, director, and curator currently developing several projects in theatre, podcasts, and TV/film and with their production company The Hodgepodge Group. Currently, Miranda is a Resident Director at Roundabout Theatre Company. Miranda is a graduate of Wesleyan University where they double majored in German Studies and Theater and were awarded the Rachel Henderson Theater Prize in Directing. www.mirandahaymon.com

Sarita Fellows

Costume Design

SARITA FELLOWS (Costume Designer). Her selected New York credits include A Jolly Holiday with Disney (Papermill Playhouse); A Commercial Jingle for Regina Commet (DR2); SOCIAL! The social distance dance club (Park Avenue Armory); A Bright Room Called Day (The Public Theater); Native Son (The Acting Co); Original Sound (Cherry Lane Theatre); Hatef**k (The Women’s Project); A Chronicle of the Death of Two Worlds (New York Theater Workshop); Fur, MUD, Prospect and Fabuloso! (The Boundless Theater Co). Her regional credits include Doubt (Westport Playhouse); The West End (Cincinnati Playhouse); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Pioneer Theater Co.); Seize the King (Alliance Theater Co); Fefu and Her Friends, Top Girls, and Her Portmaneau Pipeline (Studio Theatre); The African School Girl Play (Pittsburgh Public Theater); Haunted Life (M.R.T.); Blue Door (Resident Ensemble Players); Two Trains Running (Weston Playhouse); Berta Berta, A Late Morning with Reagan (C.A.T.F.); Having Our Say (Philadelphia Theater Co). Lecturer Princeton University. Adjunct Professor NYU Tisch. MFA NYU/Tisch.

Lee Kinney

Sound Design

LEE KINNEY (Sound Design) is a sound and music artist for theatre, film and events. Broadway: Is This a Room. Roundabout: Exception to the Rule. Off-Broadway: Help (The Shed); Prayer for the French Republic, Morning Sun (MTC); Selling Kabul (Playwrights Horizons); “Daddy” (New Group/Vineyard); Thom Pain… (Signature); Gnit (Theatre for a New Audience). Other projects include work with Rolex, Almeida Theatre, Google, Virgin Voyages. Outer Critics Circle Honors for Outstanding Sound Design. Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk and Henry Hewes nominations. Thanks to kris. @thisisleekinney

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