Steven Heard Fales (born March 17, 1970) is a classically trained

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

who has gained broad recognition in both the theatre world

gay community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individua ...

and the

LDS LDS may refer to: Organizations Religion * Latter Day Saint movement (LDS movement), a collection of independent church groups **The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest group within the Latter Day Saint movement * Latvijas ...

community for his award-winning one-man play, ''Confessions of a Mormon Boy''.

Performance

The first reading of ''Confessions'' was at the

Sunstone Symposium ''Sunstone'' is a magazine published by the Sunstone Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, that discusses Mormonism through scholarship, art, short fiction, and poetry. The foundation began the publication in 1974. The m ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

in 2001. He has performed the play

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

(under director

Jack Hofsiss John Bernard Hofsiss (September 28, 1950 – September 13, 2016) was an American theatre, film, and television director. He received a Tony Award for his direction of ''The Elephant Man'' on Broadway, the youngest director to have ever receive ...

) and across the United States and internationally at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

and London's West End. The book ''Confessions of a Mormon Boy: Behind the Scenes of the Off-Broadway Hit'' was a

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

finalist. Before becoming a solo artist he performed in Shakespeare and musicals in regional theatres across America. ''Confessions of a Mormon Boy'' is Part One in ''The Mormon Boy Trilogy''. Part Two and Three are called ''Missionary Position'' and ''Prodigal Dad''. ''Mormon-American Princess'' is his cabaret act and deals with the subject of

narcissism Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive preoccupation with oneself and one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism, named after the Greek mythological figure ''Narcissus'', has evolv ...

. It premiered in San Francisco and has played Joe's Pub, New York City. Other solo shows include ''Conversations with Heavenly Mother: An Uncommon Diva'', ''Joseph III'', ''CULT!'', and ''When All Else Fales''. He is the founder of the Solo Performance Alliance.

Personal life

Fales was born in Provo, Utah, and raised in California and later Las Vegas, Nevada. He first trained at the

Boston Conservatory Boston Conservatory at Berklee (formerly The Boston Conservatory) is a private performing arts conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in dance, music, and theater. Boston Conservatory was founded o ...

on scholarship and after serving a two-year mission for the LDS Church in Portugal transferred to

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

, where he received his BFA in musical theatre. He received his MFA in acting from the University of Connecticut. He has further trained at The American Comedy Institute and has studied privately with acting coach Larry Moss. He lives in Salt Lake City with his two children.

Notes

External links

Official website
*
Confessions of a Mormon Boy website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fales, Steven 1970 births 20th-century Mormon missionaries 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights American Mormon missionaries in Portugal Brigham Young University alumni American gay writers American gay actors LGBTQ Latter Day Saints Living people People excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Former Latter Day Saints American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights LGBTQ people from Utah American male dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male writers

Performance

Personal life

See also

Notes

External links