Former megachurch pastor Ted Haggard, who resigned from his Colorado congregation amid a sex and drug scandal, visited a New York theater earlier this month to check out a play that was focused on him.

According to Upstaged, a blog on the Time Out New York Web site, Haggard attended “This Beautiful City” at the Vineyard Theatre on March 10.

The docudrama about Haggard, who also resigned as the president of the National Association of Evangelicals in 2006, focuses on how the scandal affected New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Steven Crosson, the artistic director of Civilians, the acting troupe that created the play, said actors were kept in the dark about Haggard’s presence but nonperformers got updates during the show.

“…The staff here were slipping in periodically and checking,” he said. “And they would come back and say, `Oh, he laughed at this line. He smiled at that. He’s sticking around for the second act.”’

The play, which previously was featured in a Washington theater, ended its New York run on March 15.

(Photo is of earlier production of “This Beautiful City” at Washington’s Studio Theatre.)