FIRE ISLAND - On July 2, Steven Fales-actor/singer/playwright/father/gay man/Democrat and excommunicated ex-Mormon missionary/ex-husband/ex-Republican, ex-high-priced hustler/ex-substance abuser-began two weeks of telling his tale, sharing humor, angst, anger and pathos, in his tour-de-force, "Confessions of a Mormon Boy," under the auspices of Richard LaFrance's Island Repertory Theatre Company at the Tides Playhouse. Jack Hofsiss, perhaps best known as director of "The Elephant Man," directed Fales' play, which opened in Salt Lake City in 2001, reached off-Broadway in 2006, has run in San Francisco, Chicago, Miami and Fort Lauderdale, among other cities, and is next due in London. Performances in Cherry Grove are on Wednesdays, Sundays and Mondays at 7 pm and Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm, through July 13. Tickets, at $30, are available at Island Rep's box office on the ground floor of the Top of the Bay building, at the Tides just before curtain, by telephone at 631/597-9439, or through www.theatermania.com.

Quotable quotes and memorable moments abound in Fales' monologue. He variously styles himself, jokingly, as an "Oxy-Mormon;" an "Ethel Mormon;" a "Brokeback Mormon," a recent addition, and a "Mormon American Princess." Mention of gay ex-Governor of New Jersey James McGreevey is also newly inserted into the script. Fales bluntly indicts the Church, bent on excommunicating him for his homosexuality, as a "socio-economic-political-tax-exempt-multi-national-corporation posing as the Kingdom of God on Earth," delicately describes his work with the escort agency as "the job Mary Magdalene did before she met Jesus," and makes a pointed Freudian slip when he substitutes 'prostitutes' for 'proselytizes." Fales also sings sweetly to us: bits of hymns, phrases from musicals, a lullaby, and compositions of his own. His riotous account of his first assignment as a hustler, an encounter with a man he terms a "troll" and a "lizard," makes for a breathtaking set piece. His story of marriage to a Mormon woman whose gay father died of AIDS is simply eerie.

In the course of his struggle toward truth and identity, Fales lays considerable blame-on mother, father, and wife, as well as Church-but as he works through his issues and arrives at understanding and forgiveness, his irrepressible, seductive charm-that Mormon smile!-and honesty ensure that we're steadfastly on his side. Catch "Confessions of a Mormon Boy" if you can.

Next on Island Rep's agenda, during the first three weekends in August, is Del Shores' comedy "Sordid Lives," directed by LaFrance. From August 22 to 24, the company presents staged readings of John Lisbon Wood's "The Rarest of Birds," about Montgomery Clift, and two other new plays. All performances are at the Tides.