Steven Fales: A Princess in Mormondom and Other Works
Over seven years ago, the Utah stage was taken by storm with an acclaimed controversial one-man play called Confessions of a Mormon Boy. This month, Steven Fales ? the brainchild behind it ? returns to Salt Lake City with the sequel Mormon American Princess. The limited two-night performance benefits the Utah Pride Center.
Through Mormon Boy, we learned of Fales? marriage and subsequent divorce, his excommunication and subsequent descent into the underbelly of prostitution and drugs. This time around, Fales is dealing with something new … narcissism, and he?s sharing it as a ?cabaret fireside.? ?It still deals with my life, but there?s more singing and comedy,? Fales said. ?The whole thing is an exploration of narcissism.?
The show recaps, through prose and song, Fales? growing up mormon in what he calls Mormondom, his obsession with money in Las Vegas and coming out in New York. From touching and powerful ballads to parodies of Broadway show tunes and original songs, Fales illustrates a road less traveled with heart, humor and a touch of vanity. ?I gender bend a lot of the songs,? Fales said. ?How many male ex-hookers sing ?I Don?t Know How to Love Him.??
In addition, how many gay ex-mormons sing ?Son of a Preacher Man?? Or how many narcissists sing ?Making Love Alone?? These are the questions so many Utahns may ask themselves over Family Home Evening.
Fales? princess also relates insight into mom & dad, cults, Mitt Romney and the 13 steps of Narcissists Anonymous all in just over an hour.
Cabaret Scenes magazine said of Fales? Mormon American Princess performance,
?[He] possesses a beautiful lyric tenor, perfectly suited to his very
theatrical delivery.?
Fales? company Mormon Boy Productions also presents this spring an acclaimed autobiographical one-man play The Eyes of Babylon, written by gay Iraq War veteran Jeff Key. ?This is a powerful show,? Fales said. ?It just had a great nine-month run in L.A.? The story follows Key from the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 through his time as a marine in Iraq, to his return to Utah to start a life of political activism. The performance runs Apr. 3-19 at the Rose Wagner Center.
There are many other projects on the horizon. Fales is currently working on a new book Oxy-Mormon Memoirs. ?It goes much more in depth about my relationship with my mother,? Fales said. ?And my therapy overcoming prostitution.?
Two additional plays in production are Sacred Strain and The First Wife?s Tale. The first is about Evan Stephen ? the father of Mormon music, the back story of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Stephen?s homosexuality; second is a one-woman play, which Fales co-wrote. It?s the story of Emma Smith, the first wife of Joseph Smith, and the beginnings of polygamy in America.
?These are the stories the Mormon church doesn?t want you to hear, and I?m in to telling them,? Fales said. ?I?m committed to telling stories of Mormondom thoroughly, ruthlessly, but also generously. I don?t have a temple recommend holding me back anymore.?
Fales would like to start teaching classes on his ?forte,? solo performances ? how to write, perform and produce one-person acts. ?You just have to have the right combination of insanity and narcissism,? said Fales. ?And also heart. A lot of us get up there [on stage] to make a difference, try to change the world with our story.?
?Mormon Boy is my contribution to helping end spiritual abuse in churches, mosques and synagogues,? Fales continued. ?My stories of Mormondom are told specifically from a queer point of view and seem to translate universally in their themes.?
Confessions of a Mormon Boy will return to Salt Lake City for a final act July of 2008, and will be premiered with The Eyes of Babylon in Dublin, Ireland, May of 2008. Also Mormon Boy will be released as a documentary film, and will include a discussion of its themes and other extras. Fales hopes to submit it to Sundance before next year?s festival.
Mormon American Princess will be produced off Broadway later this year, as well as taken to the sea aboard ?high-scale? cruise ships including one to the South of France where Fales will perform with Coco Peru.
Through it all: his mission, marriage, divorce, excommunication, drug addiction and prostitution, Fales has proven success through strong conviction and incredible artistic talent. Fales, though narcissistic as he claims, also seems humbled by his ex-wife Emily Pearson ? who he calls his best friend ? and by his two children. There also appears to be a great respect for Carol Lynn Pearson, Emily?s mother, who Fales says ushered in what he calls the ?Mormon Arts Renaissance.?
“Mormon American Princess” runs two nights only, Mar. 29-30 at the Rose Wagner Center, 138 W. Broadway. Tickets $25?30, call 355-ARTS or visit arttix.org.