A high school detention that’s more than what it seems

The students in “Exception to the Rule” trickle through the door, pony up to a desk and rarely stray far unless provoked. They’re probably meant to be thinking about what they’ve done. But that wouldn’t change their motives or bring them any closer to freedom.

If you were ever slapped with detention, or have seen “The Breakfast Club,” you’ll recognize the setting. School’s out and these kids have been held back for reasons that will eventually reveal the ways each of them have been misjudged. But in Dave Harris’s sly and pointed play, now running at Studio Theatre, all of them are in the same boat.

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