Queer eye for the Mormon guy

Steven Fales is stunning enough to make men consider switching teams and women consider surgery.

Writer/performer in Plan-B Theatre Company's autobiographical one-man play, "Confessions of a Mormon Boy," Fales is clever and welcoming-a genuine soul in a sea of hypocrisy.

He was, as the title suggests, a Mormon boy, and as such, he fought his homosexuality for years, clinging tightly to the religion of his upbringing, a religion he cherished. He was sent to reparative therapy (an attempt to "cure" people of their sexual orientation) and was told that homosexuality didn't even exist. He sought redemption and lived the best life he could. He served a mission, married in an LDS temple-and when he finally gave in to his true nature, he was, of course, excommunicated from his church.

Fales studied acting at the Boston Conservatory before his mission, finished his undergraduate degree at Brigham Young University and received his master's degree at the University of Connecticut. His years of classical training are evident in the polished delivery of his songs and his obvious comfort on stage.

There, he lays bare the ugliest results of the choices he made during his transition from "perfect Mormon" to healthy homosexual, and he does it without shame, without fear. He shares the most painful details of his story with a true desire to set others free from the shame of "spiritual abuse," as he calls it.

Fales defines spiritual abuse as "any time an individual, group or institution uses religion to justify telling or showing anyone they are not worthy of God's full love and blessings." Through all of his personal strife, he has remained a vastly spiritual man and remains hopeful that the God he loves will love him back.

While members of the LDS church are not his focal audience, they do tend to find him. Wherever he goes, people of all faiths respond to his story, but Mormons particularly seek him out. Instead of his act being an attack on the church that rejected him, he is munificent in his treatment of the church itself. This play is about "what it is to stop being a victim."

When Fales first had the idea to tell his story five years ago, he took huge risks and encountered many obstacles. Without even a manuscript, he booked the theater at the Rose Wagner Center for a run. He produced the play himself at first and was eventually courted by Off-Broadway producers. They insisted that he include some nudity and assured him that they would use obscure lighting, but in the end he chose to hold on to his integrity-and his pants.

The show has been touring successfully around the country and has been an effective fund-raiser for a variety of causes.

Fales is as multitalented as he is charming, with a book just released last week and a new play called "Mormon American Princess" in the works.

For more information on the play, the book and the man, visit www.mormonboy.com.