What with women’s basketball’s current surge in popularity, the timing is good for Penumbra Theatre’s production of “Flex,” a very well-crafted play by Candrice Jones about a high school girls basketball team in small-town Arkansas. While it’s about the sport, it mostly concerns the challenges facing the young women playing it.

Under the direction of Tiffany Nichole Greene, Penumbra’s production is an unfailingly absorbing ensemble piece that boasts six strong performances, played out on a set that actually becomes a basketball court, complete with backboard, net and scoreboards. And the five young women display very believable court skills to go with the compelling portrayals they offer as Jones’ script fleshes out the individuality of each.

But a word to any adults thinking of bringing a girl of middle school age or younger who loves the game: “Flex” is a very honest play about the conflicts confronting these high school seniors, and the topics and language pull no punches.

Our story is centered in the relationships between the five starters on the Plainnole Lady Train, a team reaching the climax of its final season together. It’s 1998 and the WNBA has recently debuted, bringing a new set of dreams into these players’ lives, particularly two who are hoping for Division I college scholarships. But one teammate is pregnant and others are addressing issues of sexual identity and religion that seem destined for a collision.

It’s not surprising to learn that playwright Jones was a high school basketball player who went on to play in college. “Flex” bears the ring of truth throughout our two hours with this team. Team captain Starra seems at first the focus as she delivers much of the exposition in verbal missives to her departed mother, but we soon find that each character has a compelling story to tell.

Eboni Edwards as Starra Jones in Penumbra Theatre’s production of “Flex,” a play by Candrice Jones about a girls basketball team full of players confronting some key life decisions. The show runs May 2-19, 2024 at the St. Paul theater. (Caroline Yang / Penumbra Theatre)

Eboni Edwards conveys a fine balance of swagger and insecurity as Starra, who runs into a wall of confidence in a new-to-town teammate she sees as a rival for the attention of college recruiters, Kalala Kiwanuka-Woernle’s smooth, straight-talking Sidney. Also impressively inhabiting their characters are Tyra Lee Ramsey as the sweet peacemaker Cherise, an aspiring Baptist minister whose sexuality may prove problematic to her path, and Charlotte McDaniel as Donna, a teammate with the aura of a wise elder.

But the character who undergoes the most arresting transformation is Aubree Chanel Dixon’s April, who is pregnant and struggling to stay with the team against the wishes of the hard-nosed coach. In this starting five, April is the one for whom the stakes are highest, and Dixon delivers a very involving performance.

The coach is played with just the right mix of compassionate leader and reliving-past-glories nag by Regina Marie Williams. And what a pleasure it is to have Williams back on a local stage after a late-2023 health scare. Her performance as Coach Pace is a fine reminder of the complex layers she seems to bring to every portrayal.

With Ruben Arana-Downs’ set taking us between the court and the living room, and Tommy Franklin and Faith Johnson Patterson helping shape the cast’s basketball skills, “Flex” is a journey with rewards far greater than your average sports story.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.

‘Flex’

When: Through May 19

Where: Penumbra Theatre, 270 N. Kent St., St. Paul

Tickets: $45-$20, available at 651-224-3180 or penumbratheatre.org

Capsule: What looks like a sports story is really a compelling coming-of-age drama.

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