Roundabout Underground's World Premiere of EXCEPTION TO THE RULE Begins Previews Tomorrow

Roundabout Theatre Company will present the Roundabout Underground world premiere of Exception to the Rule by Dave Harris (2022 Outer Critics Circle awards nominee, Tambo & Bones), directed by Roundabout Resident Director Miranda Haymon.

Exception to the Rule features Mayaa Boateng as "Erika," Malik Childs as "Tommy," Mister Fitzgerald as "Abdul," Toney Goins as "Dayrin," Amandla Jahava as "Mikayla," and Claudia Logan as "Dasani."

Exception to the Rule begins preview performances tomorrow Thursday, April 28, 2022 and opens officially on Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at the Black Box Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street). This is a limited engagement through Sunday, June 26, 2022. All tickets for Roundabout Underground productions are $30.

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? Dave Harris's new work crackles with humor and suspense-confronting the tactics for surviving institutions that were not built for you.

This production of Exception to the Rule comes from a combination of several of Roundabout's emerging-artists programs, including the New Play Initiative and the Roundabout Directing Fellowship.

Now in its 14th season, Roundabout Underground is part of Roundabout's New Play Initiative, discovering new writers, producing their New York debuts, and providing them long-term development and production support. In addition to the Black Box production, every Underground playwright gets a commission for a future play. Roundabout's Associate Artistic Director Jill Rafson serves as Artistic Producer.

Roundabout launched its Directing Fellowship in 2017, to create long-term relationships with a new generation of directors, and Miranda Haymon was its second Fellow, serving for the 2017-18 season. With Exception to the Rule, Haymon becomes the first participant to direct a full production-and is one of the youngest directors in the company's history-for Roundabout. Haymon first directed this play for the 2019 Roundabout Underground Reading Series and is currently a Resident Director at Roundabout.

The playwrights who made their New York debuts at Roundabout Underground are Stephen Karam (Speech & Debate, 2007), Steven Levenson (The Language of Trees, 2008), Adam Gwon (Ordinary Days, 2009), Kim Rosenstock (Tigers Be Still, 2010), David West Read (The Dream of the Burning Boy, 2011), Andrew Hinderaker (Suicide, Incorporated, 2011), Joshua Harmon (Bad Jews, 2012), Meghan Kennedy (Too Much, Too Much, Too Many, 2013), Jeff Augustin (Little Children Dream of God, 2015), Lindsey Ferrentino (Ugly Lies the Bone, 2015), Jenny Rachel Weiner (Kingdom Come, 2016), Mansa Ra (Too Heavy for Your Pocket, 2017), Martín Zimmerman (On the Exhale, 2017), Ming Peiffer (Usual Girls, 2018), Alex Lubischer (Bobbie Clearly, 2018), Selina Fillinger (Something Clean, 2019), Daniel Zaitchik (Darling Grenadine, 2020), Sanaz Toossi (English, 2022), Dave Harris (Exception to the Rule, 2022). Ra's commission ....what the end will be will premiere at the Laura Pels Theater this spring, performances begin May 12 and opening is June 2, 2022.

The creative team for Exception to the Rule includes: Reid Thompson and Kamil James (Sets), Sarita Fellows (Costumes), Cha See (Lighting), and Lee Kinney (Sound).

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

Exception to the Rule plays Tuesday through Sunday evenings at 7:00PM with Saturday matinees at 1:30PM and Sunday matinees at 2:00PM.

The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre opened in March 2004 with an acclaimed premiere of Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel starring Viola Davis, directed by Dan Sullivan. Since that landmark production, the center has expanded beyond the Laura Pels Theatre to include the Black Box Theatre and now a new education center. The Steinberg Center continues to reflect Roundabout's commitment to produce new works by established and emerging writers as well as revivals of classic plays. This state-of-the-art off-Broadway theatre and education complex is made possible by a major gift from The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. The Trust was created in 1986 by Harold Steinberg to promote and advance American Theatre as a vital part of our culture by supporting playwrights, encouraging the development and production of new work, and providing financial assistance to not-for-profit theatre companies across the country. Since its inception, the Trust has awarded over $70 million to more than 125 theatre organizations.

Roundabout Underground's home is a 62-seat Black Box Theatre, which is also used year-round by Roundabout's education department for its activities including student productions and professional development workshops.

Dave Harris was Roundabout's 2020-21 Tow Foundation Playwright in Residence.

We gratefully acknowledge the Roundabout Leaders for New Works: Alec Baldwin, James Costa and John Archibald, Linda L. D'Onofrio, Peggy and Mark Ellis, Sylvia Golden, Jeanne Hagerty, Angelina Lippert, K. Myers, Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, Ira Pittelman, Mary Solomon, Lauren and Danny Stein, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, and The Tow Foundation.

Roundabout has been working to prioritize and actively incorporate anti-racism, equity, diversity, inclusion and accountability throughout the institution. Read more about the company's social justice progress and timeline at www.roundabouttheatre.org/socialjustice

Roundabout Theatre Company celebrates the power of theatre by spotlighting classics from the past, cultivating new works of the present, and educating minds for the future. A not-for-profit company, Roundabout fulfills that mission by producing familiar and lesser-known plays and musicals; discovering and supporting talented playwrights; reducing the barriers that can inhibit theatergoing; collaborating with a diverse team of artists; building educational experiences; and archiving over five decades of production history.

Roundabout Theatre Company presents a variety of plays and musicals on its five stages: Broadway's American Airlines Theatre, Studio 54 and Stephen Sondheim Theatre, and Off-Broadway's Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre.

Roundabout's current and upcoming productions include: Birthday Candles, by Noah Haidle, starring Debra Messing, directed by Vivienne Benesch; Exception to the Rule by Dave Harris, directed by Miranda Haymon; ...what the end will be by Mansa Ra, directed by Margot Bordelon; 1776 by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone, directed by Jeffrey L. Page and Diane Paulus; You Will Get Sick by Noah Diaz; the bandaged place by Harrison David Rivers, directed by David Mendizábal; The Wanderers by Anna Ziegler, directed by Barry Edelstein; Covenant by York Walker; and Primary Trust by Eboni Booth.

www.roundabouttheatre.org