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Fifteen years ago, Steven Fales launched his solo theater career with a Salt Lake City reading of "Confessions of a Mormon Boy," a frank and comedic look at the sixth-generation Mormon's journey to "overcome" his homosexuality.
Over the years, he expanded his brand of solo autobiography into a trilogy that includes stories about overcoming his fall into meth addiction and prostitution, a backward look at his LDS mission, Mormon temple rituals and his excommunication, as well as his legal fight over custody and visitation of his two children.
"This is my contribution to telling the stories of Mormon Americana," says Fales, whose backstory is marked by his marriage to Emily Pearson. She's the daughter of Carol Lynn Pearson, the LDS writer who became something of a Mother Confessor to gay Mormons in the decades after her 1986 memoir "Goodbye, I Love You," about the death of her husband from AIDS.
Fales has performed versions of his solo shows widely, including a 2006 off-Broadway run, and a Washington, D.C., run of his trilogy in 2014. Now 45, the actor has moved back to Salt Lake City, where he's reviving his original "Confessions" — the PG-13 version, he says — with all the in-jokes for insiders.
"My Mormon Valentine" is the title for this go-round, which chronicles Fales' attempts to enter the Celestial Kingdom so he can see his children. The script includes appearances by Heavenly Mother and St. Peter and the iconic "Saturday's Warrior" character Jimmy Flinders.
Fales is launching a crowd-funding campaign to fund the taping of Salt Lake City performances at The Leonardo Museum Theater. With this run, he hopes to establish Solo Salt Lake, a theatrical company to present and develop new solo theater performances.
The LDS Church has made gay-Mormon-themed works urgently relevant again, thanks to raw wounds from the recent policy announcement by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints banning children of same-sex married couples from being baptized at age 8, says Utah-based actor Alexis Baigue, noted as a longtime "Saturday's Voyeur" cast member.
Baigue has seen several versions of Fales' solo shows over the years and attended a recent reading of this revival. "I'm still willing to go on the journey with him," he says. "I was still engaged. I was still laughing."
Cultural outsiders — such as Tony Kushner with "Angels in America" and Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who created the Broadway-smash musical "The Book of Mormon" with Robert Lopez — shouldn't be the only ones telling Mormon stories, says Fales. "Now that 'The Book of Mormon' has died down a bit, I think it is time for me to come back," he says.
The actor adds: "It really is my valentine to Mormonism, the culture I grew up in, and a valentine to my children."
facebook.com/ellen.weist —
'Mormon Valentine'
Steven Fales returns with his original Utah version of "Confessions of a Mormon Boy," this time titled as a valentine to the culture he was raised in.
When • Preview Thursday, Feb. 11, 7 p.m.; opening night, Friday, Feb. 12, 7 p.m. (reception to follow); Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 13 and 14, 7 p.m.; also 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14, with two-for-one "Bring your Mormon Boy" discount; run continues on weekends, with Monday, Feb. 29 Family Night (pay-what-you-can) at 7 p.m., talkback to follow.
More • Performances on Saturday, Feb. 27, at 3 and 7 p.m. will be filmed.
Benefit • For Utah Pride Center, Saturday, Feb. 20, 7 p.m.
Where • Leonardo Museum Theater, 209 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City
Tickets • $10 (discounts and group rates available); 800-838-3006 or mormonboylive.brownpapertickets.com
Kickstarter link • indiegogo.com/projects/my-mormon-valentine#