WASHINGTON
George Mount ’94
Artistic director, Seattle Shakespeare Company

How do you make the work of a 400-year-old playwright resonate with a modern audience? That is the question George Mount (M.F.A. ’94) tries to answer every day as the artistic director of the Seattle Shakespeare Company.

“What in this play needs to be heard today?” Mount often asks. “What is the personal, political, philosophical crux that an audience today, in your town, would benefit from experiencing in this play? It’s really what should be asked for any script, new or old.”

Mount’s passion for theater goes all the way back to his childhood.

“It’s honestly the only thing I ever really wanted to do with my life,” Mount says. “From as young as elementary school, I wanted to be an actor.”

Despite this passion, Mount still had obstacles to overcome when he entered the acting program at UMKC.

“I came into the acting program with a lot of emotional defenses, some unwillingness to open myself up,” Mount says. “It was a struggle, but the three years of the program allowed me to develop skills to access emotional experiences safely in an artistic setting.”

Mount’s work at UMKC enabled him to take on more challenging roles. He says the most challenging roles are the ones he doesn’t expect.

“I got to play Katherine in an all-male ‘The Taming of the Shrew,’” he says. “It was stunning to be on the receiving — and giving — end of that kind of treatment.”