INTERVIEW: Roundabout’s ‘Exception’ centers on breaking down the walls
Photo: Exception to the Rule, now playing at Roundabout Underground, stars, from left, Mister Fitzgerald (Abdul), MaYaa Boateng (Erika), Toney Goins (Dayrin), Amandla Jahava (Mikayla), Malik Childs (Tommy) and Claudia Logan (Dasani). Photo courtesy of Joan Marcus / Provided by Polk & Co. with permission.
Dave Harris’ acclaimed new play, Exception to the Rule, centers on six Black students as they face detention in Room 111. There are walls all around them, both of the literal and figurative kind, and each character needs to decide whether to stay within these surroundings, or break out and see the possibilities on the outside. As press notes indicate, the show is about “surviving institutions that were not built for you.”
One of the students in detention is Dayrin, played by actor Toney Goins. The Philadelphia native is a graduate of The Juilliard School for Drama, and his previous off-Broadway credit is Toni Stone, according to his official biography. He is perhaps best known for his television work on ABC’s For Life and Showtime’s Billions.
“There is a lot of stuff going on in this play,” Goins said in a recent phone interview. “For a play that’s only set in one location, Dave has somehow managed to put so many facets of the African American experience, the Black experience into one room. … It’s something you experience when you trap people in one place, whether it be physically or mentally. We get to see that unfold.”
Goins said Exception to the Rule is an 85-minute study on how being trapped can change a person mentally and physically. There is a hope that audience members will see parallels between the events of the play and the world outside the theater.
“It’s something we can take and look at on a larger scale when we apply that to the real world in the ways that we trap each other,” the actor said. “My character in particular, his name Dayrin, and I would say he’s kind of the wild card of the group. Everyone has their specific personality trait. They’re all complex characters, but I think his overall personality trait, Dayrin is the wild card. You don’t know what he’s going to say and when he’s going to say it and if what he’s going to say is going to be inappropriate. … He’s very complex.”
Goins said that each character is physically trapped in detention, but they have a backstory. Through conversation, their home lives are shared, and their family situations are described. For Goins, these details add to the wall metaphor in Exception to the Rule.
“All those things are added to the metaphysical walls that they’re trying to break down as well, and sometimes the sad part is they’re not even trying to break down those walls,” he said. “They’re just having to accept that these are the confines of the walls that they have to live in, and a lot of these characters don’t know that there are ways out of it. There’s another path you can take. A lot of them are accepting of the fact, this is my situation, and I have to stay within these walls.”
Goins graduated high school eight years ago, so it has been interesting inhabiting a character who is younger than himself. He has called the experience of working on this Roundabout Underground play a fun one, and he draws parallels and distinctions between his own experience and that of his character.
“It’s very different for me and especially my high school experience,” Goins said. “I went to an all boys’ private school, so I had almost the exact opposite of what this type of experience is like. So it’s actually been really fun for me discovering what this looks like and allowing myself to play and have fun and let that younger, wilder side come out. That’s something I’m actually really excited about with this part, being able to really tap into that part of myself and be a kid again. When you grow up, you have to worry about bills and rent and doctor visits and work and all this stuff. I can put that on the backburner. Listen, I just get to have fun. I just get to have fun antagonizing people.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Exception to the Rule, featuring Toney Goins, continues through June 26 at Roundabout Theatre Company’s Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre in Midtown Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
