That's the dilemma explored in American Girls, the new play by Hilary Bettis. Amanda (Ms. Bettis) and Katie (Kira Sternbach) are two rather unpopular middle school girls from Iowa who decide to get fake IDs and enter a dance competition they saw an ad for in the paper. Of course the competition is an amateur stripper's night, and the two ditch their Hello Kitty gear and retainers and dance in their scanties for a bunch of drooling men. They get the card of a "Hollywood agent", who brings them back to his place for a "screen test", which turns out to be an amateur porn flick. A $500 later, they're excited and waiting for news of their big break. When bits of their screen test show up on YouTube and the girls get picked up by the cops, they get their story straight- they were raped. This leads to an appearance on an Oprah-like talk show, where the girls discuss their ordeal and become famous.

.

Bettis' dialogue is note-perfect, capturing the hilariously banal concerns of day-to-day school life, as well as the girls hunger for fame. Celebrity names are dropped right and left, from Paris Hilton to Miley Cyrus to Zac Efron. An intriguing staging is to have Amanda obsessed with her new camcorder, recording most of the events, some of which are shown on television screens ranged around the stage, continuing the story as the live girls change costumes; here more actors appear: Maxwell Zener as the smarmy "Hollywood agent" Frank Miller (the name an amusing shout-out to the whore-obsessed graphic novelist); and the hilarious Traci Hovel as talk show host Dr. Opal Banks. Disembodied voices are also provided by Scott Johnson, Adam Hirsch, Mark Chin, and Sydney Cohen.

Although the show is only 70 minutes, a few of the scenes feel overlong, but it's a great first play from Bettis. The action is kept moving by director Jeff Cohen. The set design by Ryan Elliot Kravetz is a abstract cross and a carpeted plinth, giving an ecclesiastic feel. Lighting design by Evan Purcell is impressive, going from police interrogation lights to backlit stripper heat. Costumes by Gail Cooper-Hecht perfectly capture the awkward middle school ages as well as the meretricious costumes the girls assume for their "dance competition". Painfully earnest Christian rock is the pre-show to get the audience in the mood.