They've got an Oscar...can a Tony be far behind?

Actually, it probably is far behind, but exhaustively covered Hollywood buddies Matt Damon and Ben Affleck do make their collaborative theater debut--sort of--with an irreverent new off-Broadway play that's chalking up sold-out performances at New York's PS 122 (www.ps122.org).

Matt & Ben is the creation of writers Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers, who not only immortalize the actors' friendship in the script, but who also play them in the production. Yep...the Good Will Hunting guys are played by gals.

"I think it helps the play come off as more affectionate than just mean and jealous," says Kaling on the duo's decision to cast themselves as the leads. "We're not competing with them for roles, so there's no underlying bitterness or meanness towards them. It's also just funny to have Brenda and I playing them, because we obviously look completely different."

The play captures--fictitiously, of course--Matt and Ben circa 1995, as they spend an afternoon in Ben's Boston apartment, trying to adapt Catcher in the Rye into a screenplay in the hopes of winning an Oscar. "Adaptation is the highest form of flattery," Ben reasons.

But before the longtime pals can carry out their ill-conceived plan to take Salinger to the big screen, a better option falls into their laps. Literally. While sitting on Affleck's grungy couch, a script entitled Good Will Hunting falls from the ceiling and right into their laps, sending the pair into an friendship-testing struggle about whether or not they should claim the story as their own, and, most importantly, which one of them gets to play the lead character.

The idea for Matt & Ben, which nabbed Best Overall Production honors at the 2002 New York International Fringe Festival and was the only play invited to appear at the HBO-sponsored U.S. Comedy and Arts Festival in Aspen this year, came about during the summer heatwave of 2001, when Dartmouth grads Kaling and Withers were sharing a New York apartment. Escaping the heat meant days camping inside with the air conditioner and stacks of entertainment mags. Affleck's breathlessly documented rehab stint graced the cover of many glossies that summer, which led Kaling and Withers to decide to pen an homage of sorts to the Beantown boys.

"Once our friends knew we were working on it, they would just barrage us with emails every time there was news about one of them," Withers says. "Most of it didn't even make it into the play."

From the grungy plaid couch that perfectly marks Affleck's pre-million-dollar paydays and the bags of chips and crushed beer cans strewn about the abode to the School Ties poster on the wall (the film represented their first major roles) and the plastic milk crate housing a paperback copy of A People's History of the United States (the classic revisionist American history penned by Damon's childhood neighbor Howard Zinn), the knowledge of all things Matt and Ben paid off. The play's clever attention to detail is a highlight of the production.

And while Matt & Ben (www.mattandben.com) is a satire of all things Hollywood and of the many rumors and innuendos that have followed the titular stars throughout their quick rise to fame, there's also an underlying sweetness to the play.

The play suggests Affleck is the less brainy half of the duo ("Ben is creative. Ben, for instance, uses the made-up word 'chillaxin' because he senses something missing in just 'chilling' or 'relaxing,' " says the play's Matt).

And, for those really up-to-speed on Hollywood gossip, there's a cheeky moment when the character of future Affleck girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow makes an appearance and suggests to Damon that there's nothing wrong with the boys claiming the Good Will Hunting script as their own. (Paltrow, it has been alleged, snagged the script for Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love from then-pal Winona Ryder while camping out at Chez Ryder in the days after Gwynie's Brad Pitt breakup.)

But for all the playful jabs at Matt, Ben, Gwyneth, Ben's bro Casey and even David Schwimmer, Kaling and Withers say they respect the efforts of the guys to continue collaborating on endeavors like Project Greenlight and to maintain their friendship amid constant media scrutiny and the travails of life in La-La Land. The play, therefore, depicts Damon and Affleck as committed not only to achieving Hollywood success, but in doing so as a team.

"I do admire them," says Withers. "I especially admire what they've been able to do as friends, which is to remain friends and be successful and do good work, which I think is pretty rare in an industry like the one they're in."

Still, does that mean Kaling and Withers would welcome a couple of very special guests--namely Matt and Ben themselves--to a performance?

"I don't even know if they know about the play, to be honest," laughs Withers. "I hope they know. But they haven't seen it, I don't think anyone close to them has seen it, and we haven't gotten any feedback from them."

"And we're happy with that in some ways, too," continues Kaling, "because, though it would be delightful if they came, we haven't had to be too worried about whether they like it or hate it."

Besides, PS 122 only seats 100. Would that even hold J.Lo's entourage?