University of Michigan's theater department turns a spotlight on "Uncommon Women"

And since Wasserstein was a Holyoke grad herself, she's able to establish and powerfully re-create the school's atmosphere in "Uncommon." The play begins and ends with five Holyoke grads meeting for lunch, six years after graduation; but the rest of "Uncommon" is set during their senior year.

Kate (Emily Berman) is an academic and charismatic superstar bound for law school; Leilah (Devin Lytle) is a friend and former roommate who's struggling to get out from under Kate's shadow; Muffet (Bridget Coyne Gabbe) vacillates between dreaming of independence and Prince Charming; Holly (Laura Lapidus) is a directionless trust fund baby who's overwhelmed by choices; Samantha (Quinn Scillian) simply plans to marry her boyfriend after college; and Rita (Elly Jarvis) is the wild child of the group, trying to push boundaries at every turn.

The play isn't linear, with rising action that builds to a climax, but rather episodic in its structure (which feels appropriate, given its exclusive focus on women). In this way, the audience comes to feel like they're yet another student at Holyoke, spending time with these hyper-literate women as they hash out their fears and hopes. (Watching the play made me miss my grad school girlfriends something fierce.)

Yet at two and a half hours, the play feels a bit bloated and self-indulgent at times, and two women in the dorm - catatonic-but-brilliant freshman Carter (Stephanie Williams) and over-the-top pep machine Susie (Bonnie Gruesen) - stand out by virtue of Wasserstein's one-dimensional, cartoonish characterizations. Indeed, they often seem to serve no purpose but to provide comic relief, or, in Carter's case, a silent sounding board that others can deliver a monologue too, so we learn about what they can't tell others.

Wasserstein applies this same idea when Holly makes a call to a stranger and then pours out her soul. Yes, the one-sided conversation reveals much to us about her character, but because I didn't quite believe it, my attention was drawn from the play to the playwright.

Also, director John Neville-Andrews has Holly wandering freely around the set while carrying the rotary phone; this felt wrong, since she would have, in that era, been tethered by a cord. And on opening night, a sound cue was noticeably botched (recorded music started playing just as Scillian crouched to put a record on).

Even so, Janine Wood Thoma's scenic design nicely establishes the play's cozy, New England college setting, and Neville-Andrews has cast the show well. Gruesen, despite having an underwritten role, consistently injects energy and fun into the proceedings, and as enigmatic house mother Mrs. Plumm, Janet Maylie scores some laughs of her own.

The play can be frustrating at times - when Samantha announces her engagement, none of the other women ask her, or each other, what exactly the purpose of an elite education is when a woman simply plans to get married afterward - yet I generally enjoyed spending the evening with these smart, witty women.

Of course, the extensive glossary in the program initially stirred up those SAT anxieties; but then, as I watched the play's scenes unfold, I came to appreciate the way Wasserstein had shined a spotlight on contemporary women, taking their choices, their minds, their wit and their relationships seriously.

Now, if only that had become a broader trend since the play's 1977 debut …

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.