The Edge Theater's AMERICAN GIRLS to Run 9/4-27

The Edge Theater presents "American Girls" September 4 through 27 at 1560 Teller Street in Lakewood. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 6 p.m.; Monday, September 14 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, September 27 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $26 and are available online at www.theedgetheater.com or by calling 303-232-0363.

In a celebrity driven culture, two God-fearing Iowa girls fresh out of middle school have their sights set on much bigger things. They want fame, even if it means selling their souls to the Devil in the name of the Bible. If they can achieve their goals the boys will croon with lust and the mean girls will cry with envy. Pastor Jim preaches the Lords way while the girls pursue their Hollywood dreams in the big city. Flush with naiveté the girls journey takes them down a dark and seedy path, putting them at odds with one another and forcing them to grow up much too fast.

The cast includes Bethany Richardson (Amanda), Alexis Robbins (Katie), Joe Von Borken (Pastor Jim), Benjamin Cowhick (Frank), Paige Larson (Dr. Opal Banks) and Ryan Goold (DJ/Mr Branbault).

Hilary Bettis' first play, American Girls, was produced off-Broadway in 2008 and has just been published in Plays from New River 1 (McFarland).American Girls was anthologized in Best Monologues of 2009 and Best Stage Scenes of 2008, both published by Smith & Kraus. Recently, she was named the first recipient of a playwriting fellowship, sponsored by Tony-Award winning actress Cherry Jones and administered by the Abingdon Theatre, to celebrate the career of a female playwright under the age of thirty. Her first screenplay, B'Hurst, was filmed in 2008, and she is working on a feature-length version. She was the recipient of the 2011 James McLure Playwrighting Fellowship at New River Dramatists and of the 2009 John N. Wall Fellowship for playwriting at Sewanee Writer's Conference. She was a 2010 semi-finalist for the Julliard Lila Acheson Wallace Playwright fellowship.