Mills College’s “Womyn” sounds like it could take place right now.

“We knew that the college was having enrollment and financial problems,” reads one line in the documentary theater piece.

“When I went to Mills, it was because it was a women’s college,” reads another.

And then: “We weren’t warned. We didn’t know.”

But “Womyn,” which runs Friday and Saturday, April 29-30, isn’t about the Oakland school’sacquisition by Northeastern University,which plans to make the campus coed, change the school’s name and alter academic programs, all beginning July 1.

The show, which theater students created from interviews they conducted under the guidance of Professor Victor Talmadge, is about the college’s famed 1990 strike, in which students protested the administration’s decision to go coed. It’s believed to be the only time American students at a women’s college have successfully reversed such a decision.

But if the parallels between the two situations are stark, the “Womyn” cast members, in a recent interview with The Chronicle, zeroed in on the differences.

In 1990, Mills’ administration called everyone out of class and made a very public, in-person announcement of their plans. This time, said sophomore Sadja Jannah, “They announced it when everybody was in class and they couldn’t do anything about it.”

“I think they learned their lessons from that,” said junior Umut Yalcinkaya. “They’re like, ‘OK, how do we not repeat the same mistake?’ ”

The current Mills students were initially told their schoolwould close,allowing the administration to frame theNortheastern mergeras what sophomore Josie Hall called a “just kidding” and as a piece of good news.

“It’s hard to protest if you don’t know what you’re protesting,” Hall said of the rapidly changing headlines.

Also, Yalcinkaya pointed out, “It was in the middle of COVID, too, so we couldn’t really show up,” even if students wanted to protest.

The 10 students in Talmadge’s documentary theater class exemplify some of the qualities that have long distinguishedMills alumnae.The young women can firmly, unabashedly yet respectfully disagree with one another. They’re open to revising their strong opinions when presented with fresh evidence. They treat presenting a play not as a competition or a chance to showboat but as an interesting set of challenges to take seriously and solve together.

They also don’t mince words in expressing their feelings about their administration.

They feel they’re losing a haven, not just for women, but also for queer people and people of color. Mills boasts remarkable diversity for a private school, with 58% of undergraduate students identifying as LGBTQ and 66% as people of color, according to the college’s website.

“I could walk around at night,” Jannah said of being on Mills’ campus.

“You also don’t feel looked down upon when you raise your hand in class,” said senior Soph Su.

“Emotionally, physically and intellectually, you feel safer,” Hall added.

In presenting “Womyn,” the students are especially proud of their nuanced portrait of Mary S. Metz, who was president of Mills during the strike.

“She was viewed as a villain during the strike, and I think to this day, there’s still students from that time who think Mary Metz was the reason why this happened, and that’s what I thought in the beginning of this class as well,” said Yalcinkaya.

Metz’s initial vote to go coed was to save the school from shutting down; when she saw how the students reacted, she immediately started work to reverse the decision.

In the course of their research, Talmadge’s students learned that the 1990 students physically turned their backs on Metz when she made the announcement that Mills was going coed, and that some harassed Metz at her home. But they also learned that their predecessors used chalk instead of paint to create protest graffiti, to protect their cherished school from permanent damage.

The mood feels different now, Talmadge’s students said.

“There’s no hope for anything to change. There’s a powerlessness about it,” said Hall.

As to whether students would protest with chalk now, Hall said, “Why should we protect the campus when they haven’t protected us, and it’s not even our campus anyways?”

For the theater students, putting on “Womyn” isn’t a fight, because the fight is lost. But it’s a powerful statement all the same.

“Every time I rehearse, I feel like the battle’s lost. I feel this sense of defeat,” said Su. “But I also feel like this show is my opportunity to say goodbye, to acknowledge that this happened and that we fought.

“It’s the little window opening that you can still see through, even though you can’t get through.”

“Womyn: The Story of the Mills’ Student Strike of 1990”:Directed by Victor Talmadge. 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, April 29-30. Free. Marilyn McArthur Holland Theater, Lisser Hall, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland.www.eventbrite.com