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

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...

who has gained broad recognition in both the theatre world

gay community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and soci ...

and the

LDS LDS may refer to: Organizations * LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah, US 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 th ...

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 and c ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

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 th ...

(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 receiv ...

) and across the United States and internationally at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

and London's

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

. 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 to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted ...

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 interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism exists on a co ...

. 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 founde ...

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

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

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 where he exports his work from the Rocky Mountains to Los Angeles, New York, and London.

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 LGBT Latter Day Saints Living people People excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Former Latter Day Saints American LGBT dramatists and playwrights LGBT people from Utah American male dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male writers

Performance

Personal life

See also

Notes

External links