Lué McWilliams and Olivia Scott Photo by Al Foote III.

For most teenagers who post embarrassing pictures and videos of themselves and their friends, this is just a form of self-indulgent entertainment. But put this power into the hands of a budding sociopath like Oliver (Jesse Shane Bronstein), and you've got a virulent form of cyberbullying that can ruin lives.

Oliver's target is Vicky (Olivia Scott), whom he has videoed having sex with her boyfriend Roger (Alex Esola) during one of their group's drug-and-alcohol-fueled parties. Little by little, and for reasons that become clearer as the play progresses, he has been posting segments of the tape and then sending out links to their classmates so they can all view them. Concerned by the damage to her reputation (Roger is viewed by their peers as a hot stud, while Vicky is labeled a slut), Vicky focuses her efforts on getting hold of Oliver's cell phone, a strategy she believes will somehow allow her to put the genie back into the lamp.

You might ask where the parents and school administrators are in all of this turmoil. The school head apparently is not sympathetic to her situation, and, indeed, he suspends her when she demands he do something about it. And when Vicky's mother (Lué McWilliams), a divorced parent struggling to raise her daughter on her own, attempts to help, all she can think to do is to contact an attorney. No one even conceives of bringing in the police. But Vicky and her mom cannot see eye to eye on anything, and Vicky shuts her out, determined to handle the situation on her own.

Where they play succeeds is in its raising of many complex issues about life in this upscale community, made up of ineffectual or self-absorbed parents and teenagers left to their own devices. But it does not explore them adequately. Instead, it resorts to patterns of cliché and one-dimensional characterizations so that what we are presented with is a shallow soap opera with puzzling references to cultural touchstones of earlier generations (the Equal Rights Amendment and a Buddy Holly song, among others) rather than a serious examination of the issues we are meant to consider about the here and the now.

The mixed company of Equity and non-Equity actors, under the direction of Joan Kane, do their best to bring their characters to life. Mr. Bronstein, in particular, is a standout as the creepy and dangerous Oliver. But if this play is to serve as a warning to teenagers and their parents, it needs to dig a lot more deeply into the all-too-real problems it has identified.

I Know What Boys Want
Through August 2
Theatre Row's Lion Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street
Tickets online and current Performance Schedule: Telecharge