Over the past couple of years, dazed and amazed theatergoers consistently asked Steven Fales a particularly irksome question about his solo show, Confessions of a Mormon Boy,
“Is it a true story?”

I suppose you can't really blame them—the plot has more dubious, juicy twists than a Desperate Housewives episode. It's the story of a righteous sixth-generation Utah Morman with an ultra-brite smile who has same-sex cravings but takes a wife anyway. After a period of misery, he reveals the truth, and is promptly excommunicated.

The “gender-disoriented” soul flees to the big bad city and is sucked into the world of escorting, clubbing, and crystal meth, where he endures further torture. Miraculously, through faith and hope, he extricates himself from the mire, as evidenced by his triumphant appearance onstage.

The sweet but not cloying tragicomedy, which has played to sold-out crowds across the US, is finally making its Off Broadway debut at the Soho Playhouse in New York. Jack Hofsiss, of Elephant Man fame, directs.

The effervescent, self-proclaimed “oxy-Mormon” recently sat down with AfterElton.com to talk about the nature of his extraordinary work.

AfterElton.com: How does it feel to come clean onstage?
Steven Fales: Truly liberating. When I first did the show in Salt Lake , I didn't put the sex and drugs in. But later I felt that going further would be more powerful, more honest. Especially if the Mormons found out I escorted. I wanted to take control of that myself. I didn't want secrets to jeopardize my credibility.

AE: What was the reaction in Salt Lake City?
SF: Metro Salt Lake City just ate me up. All the gays and lesbians—yes, there is a thriving counterculture there—took me under their wing. Nobody picketed, because that's not the Mormon way. They try to make undesirable things invisible and hope they go away.

AE: Are there really so many gay Mormons?
SF: There are 31 chapters of [the gay Mormon group] Affirmation around the world. Everywhere I do my show they find me, especially the fathers. You wouldn't believe how many gay Mormons live in Manhattan . Many run away to forget their past and deny the culture they came from.

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