Underneath Miss Koko’s glittery makeup, the sequined, starfish-pastied falsies, the shaved chest, the glam-fab, mile-high wig, the hint of Adam's apple — beats the heart of a simple storyteller.

Oh sure, for Koko to tell her tale it requires some lights, sound effects, songs, bedazzled Neptune’s trident and a sexy cabana boy mixing drinks in the background. Storyteller or not, any drag queen diva like Koko knows it isn't a party without pageantry.

But don’t get too caught up in the silly trappings surrounding Artists’ Theatre Project’s latest indie knockout, a premier of David Maxey’s high-camp drag monologue, “Koko! The Island Adventures of Miss Koko Neufchatel,” because the real magic is in the audience’s imagination.

From Maxey’s script to Koko’s lips to our minds, a fantastic South Seas island is created — a place where obnoxiously onanistic monkeys can run a spa retreat, where tempestuous storms are a recurring threat; a place where the drag diva Koko can create her own private Gilligan’s Island getaway and live in relative fabulousness despite a freak accident during a celebrity hang-gliding stunt in Waikiki that leaves her stranded for 19 years. Koko’s story chronicles her time on the island, fashioning a treetop high-rise and her own volcanic cave spa (with unlimited pumice!, she hypes), avoiding the spanking monkeys and a midget Icelandic missionary Koko dubs the “Nordic zealot.”

“My tale,” Koko says, with tongue wiggling suggestively in cheek, “is an epic journey of the spirit.”

It’s goofy, it’s absurd, and it’s just about the funniest thing in local theater since the same theater company put on the irreverent “Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical” in November. (Oh, yeah, and “Koko” is just as adult-oriented, thanks to a few choice naughty words. You know how drag queens like to cuss.) This time, the company has staged its show in the back patio of downtown Phoenix’s Alwun House, decked out in so much Polynesian-inspired excess, you’ll think you’ve been transported to Disneyland’s Enchanted Tiki Room.

Maxey’s script has a very David Sedaris comic sensibility about it — a little too wordy, but packed with precise punch lines, one after another, playing as much with snobby aloofness as self-deprecation. Its evocative language would work just as well as a written story, I imagine, but that would take away from the opportunity to see Koko brought to life before our eyes.

In this production, directed with gobs of sass by ATP’s Scott Pierce, Miss Koko is played alternately by three actors, including Nearly Naked Theatre head honcho Damon Dering. Sunday, it was Doug Loynd, of the three perhaps most resembling evil Ursula from “The Little Mermaid.” By the end of the run, audiences will be asked to choose a favorite among the three, who will perform the show in Los Angeles.

Not that it probably matters who’s playing Koko. She’s a commanding presence well beyond the actor performing her — a diva so grand, she can’t be confined to one body.