Exception to the Rule Reviews

Washington Post- Recommended

"...But Miranda Haymon, who directed both productions, approaches this one with a subtler hand, relieving the audience of a sense that we're also the pupils here. Performances from the terrific ensemble feel lived-in and natural, less like stand-ins for ideas than restless young minds. They posture and preen, shoot the breeze and push each other's buttons, like folks we might remember from back in the day (or even now). By the time we learn about the problems that put them here, they're already deep in our sympathies."

DC Theater Arts- Recommended

"...The bottle-episode premise for Exception to the Rule allows for escalating dramas and chill hangouts. The whole show follows suit, becoming a study in contrasts: rule followers vs. rule breakers, assimilation vs. defiance, escaping home vs. staying home. What’s significant is what’s not staged. There are no white authority figures to rail against. Nor are there Black mother surrogates (à la Sister Mary Clarence or Mary Lamb) to step in and set these “troubled teens” on “the right path.” The teens are left to their own devices, and still end up reinforcing the damage of the world onto each other."

Talkin Broadway- Recommended

"...Audiences may think they've seen stories about high school students in detention before, but Dave Harris' play Exception to the Rule, now at Studio Theatre, examines the situation through a unique lens. This school is among the worst in its unidentified city and, on this particular day, adds a brainy "good girl" to the five cheerful troublemakers who have been in that room numerous times before."

Washington City Paper- Recommended

"...Exception to the Rule shares qualities with Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline (produced at Studio in 2019), and Harris seems as inspired by the work of Jordan Peele as he is by the French absurdist Jean-Paul Sartre. As comparisons go, however, Exception to the Rule is not The Breakfast Club. Unlike its all-White counterpart, the notable absence of a coming-of-age narrative only serves to amplify the play’s implicit fatalism, packing a series of gut punches when we most desire salvation for these characters."

Washington Informer- Recommended

"...Miranda Haymon is reprising their role as director (they finely helmed the play’s 2022 off-Broadway debut at Roundabout Theatre Company in New York). Haymon orchestrates a natural feel to movement in the classroom, and without entirely stilling the action on stage (makeup applying, scribbling, etc.), the out director gives each member of the terrific cast their revelatory moment. In a busy room, we learn that Tommy’s goofiness belies trauma, that Mikayla is admirably resourceful, and most startling, why Erika, the school’s top student, is in detention."

MD Theatre Guide- Highly Recommended

"...I cannot say enough about this production. Hopeful, terrifying at times, laugh-out-loud funny at others, and downright sobering, it is all of this bundled into ninety, powerfully moving minutes during which we are voyeuristic flies on the walls of a cinderblock and barred-window detention room. The actors play their characters to perfection. The impeccable timing, the way in which they move from one fraught high school vignette to the next, and the desperation they’re able to convey through just their expressions make this a cast more than worthy of a standing ovation. You do not want to miss Studio Theatre’s production of “Exception to the Rule.” I promise, this one will stay with you."

BroadwayWorld- Highly Recommended

"...When it comes alive, it’s due to an exceptionally talented cast, under the expert timing of director Miranda Haymon. Khalia Muhammad is first in the room as the attention-seeking Mikayla; later we learn of her humiliation at being tested for the dress code for skirt length."