Review: EXCEPTION TO THE RULE at Studio Theatre

It may be too facile to call “Exception to the Rule“ the Black “Breakfast Club.”

But the new play by Dave Harris at Studio Theater is framed the same way: Six people marooned in an afterschool detention classroom on the Friday before Martin Luther King weekend, who bicker, flirt, nearly fight, and wonder if the presiding teacher will ever come to sign forms allowing them to go home. 

Standing out among the divergent young personalities is a brainy girl, who is both new to detention, and an object of wonder to the others, who have clearly gotten the afterschool sentence many times before.

She is just as curious about their situation as they are about her — how did an A student they’ve nicknamed “college-bound Erika” end up disciplined? 

Secrets are revealed and tension mounts, especially after a power outage that triggers bars on the windows. Eventually, all the talk over whether the teacher will ever arrive approaches Beckett territory. He may be named Mr. Bernie, but it might as well be Godot.

And as if to remind us of the essence of detention, the play has several stretches of silent sitting around that conjure its essential boredom. At these moments, the audience is aware — in a 90 minute work with no intermission — they’re in the same pergatory.

Harris, whose other works include “Tambo & Bones” and “Everybody Black,” is subtle about injecting his message — about those society is happy to leave behind; about education feeling more like the penal system. 

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. 

Steven Taylor Jr. conjures up just the right nerd in Tommy, who settles in behind his headphones and manga when Mikayla turns down his advances.

Jacques Jean-Mary’s Dayrin really enlivens the room though when he bounds in, arms wide and expansive as if on a basketball court. Shana Lee Hill’s Dasani is something of a mediator, certainly she’s the only one who brings up Martin Luther King.

The quiet seething of Khouri St. Surin brings a whole new level of ethics — he’s tired of people like Dayrin cutting lunch line — for the principle of the thing. Sabrina Lynne Sawyer’s wide-eyed, studious Erika is the center of the action, though, as the titular “Exception” among them. She sincerely wonders about her fellow detainees and their motivations, even though, as booksmart she may be, she’s clueless about the social machinations within.

Harris tries a lot of different approaches as detention goes on — he’s got a lot of time to play with. At one point Tommy lights up, causing not only the usual irritations to the smoke-sensitive in the audience, but making Erika suddenly speak in a kind of free verse about the unconvincing event that landed her among them. 

It’s a nice D.C. theater touch to have Craig Wallace — the perennial Scrooge at Ford’s Theatre — provide the disembodied voice of the intercom.

What works in “Exception to the Rule” is how realistic the setting, dialogue and interactions are (Tony Cisek did the cinder block set). Maybe it’s part of the subtle surrealism that nobody can know what time it is (though they can’t get service, their phones could still provide time).  

There’s also enough mystery at the end to help spark after-play conversations about what happens next. It’s likely to lead to thinking about the education system itself, societal constraints in general, real and imagined;  who’s left behind and who can take initiative to leave it altogether. And that’s a lot of good homework. 

Running time: About 90 minutes, no intermission. 

Photo credit: Shana Lee Hill, Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, and Steven Taylor Jr. in “Exception to the Rule.” Photo by  Margot Schulman. 

“Exception to the Rule” continues through October. 27 at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St NW. Recommended for 13 and older because of strong language. Tickets available online. 

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