Writing and performing his autobiographical play— I, Nephi: A Gay Mormon’s Survival Guide—Joe Mount ’15 struggles to be true to himself while holding on to the family he loves.
Joe Mount ’15 will tell you that he has been in all but three theater productions during his four years at Wabash. Truth be told, in one of those he was the director. In another, he was the stage manager.
He’s practically the face of theater on the Wabash campus.
“I would cast him in every production if I could,” says Associate Professor of Theater Jim Cherry.
But after mastering the psychological depths of Macbeth and the song and dance of Big Jule in Guys and Dolls, Mount is facing his most difficult role. He’s about to play himself.
His one-man play, I, Nephi: A Gay Mormon’s Sur-vival Guide, tells of being raised in the Mormon faith, leaving that faith behind, and the repercussions of that decision to himself, his family, and all the comforts he has ever known. Neither a spite-filled rebuttal of one identity nor an open-armed acceptance of another, it presents the journey honestly—and sometimes critically—from one 22-year-old’s nuanced point of view.
“People have a lot of misconceptions about both of these minority groups,” Mount says. “As an outsider to both, I felt I had the opportunity to offer a unique view of what that was like.”
Associate Professor of Religion David Blix ’70 agrees.
“He’s negotiating with two complicated things these days—coming out of the Mormon tradition and being gay,” Blix says. “It would be something if he were just one or the other, but to be working with both—I wonder if that has pushed him to become inventive, thoughtful, and perceptive about these things.”
What began as an idea offered partially in jest to Cherry continues to roll forward through the dramaturgical efforts of Visiting Professor of Theater Jessie Mills. It’s a story that demands to be told.
“The first step is validating that your story is worth telling, and that’s a big step, a scary step,” says Mills. “Joe’s story is so unique and specific that I only wanted to give him the tools to craft it a bit more carefully. I want that story to shine.”
Hailing from the northeast side of Indianapolis, Mount grew up in the Mormon faith in an extended family very much linked to the church. His father, Matthew, is a bishop. Joe was very involved in the church and held leadership positions of his own.
“Being active, doing service, being in church, spending time with others, and being in the Boy Scouts, those are really cool memories,” says the double major in theater and religion. “I want to get that across in the play. I want to represent what draws people in, why people stay, and why my family is so intimately and deeply connected to this faith.”
Mount’s experience in the theater goes back nearly as far. From age six until middle school, Mount and his cousins spent summers with his grandmother, who ran a youth acting company in Wisconsin. It was on that stage where his love of theater took root.
For a kid coming to grips with his own sexuality, the theater proved a welcome respite. He could play other people and be enlightened by the fresh perspective offered in any role.
“There is intrigue in that,” Mount says. “It can be a lot of fun. You can take it loosely and play around or take on a role that requires serious empathy. From the actor’s side, it provides a haven. I had a tumultuous childhood, and in theater I could go and play.”
Since being outed by the parent of a close friend and leaving the church in high school, Mount has rewritten the rules of his life. He has made new connections while trying to repair his relationship with his family, particularly his father. He has made progress there, so deciding to take his life story to the stage was not easy.
“It’s always been these two things butting heads as I figure out where I’m going with the play—I was very conscious of the implications for me personally, knowing that my family would watch it,” Mount says. “Coming out definitely caused this rift and changed our relationship. Depending on my approach, this could cause another one.”
In December he presented a public reading of the play as part of his senior capstone project, and he recorded it so that his family could watch it via a YouTube link. For the most part, they were supportive, though work continues with his father. The play opened up new levels of dialogue.
“Seeing things from my perspective for the first time allowed my family to open up,” says Mount. “It brought most of us closer together. My dad has been very hard-lined about his thoughts, my stepmom not as much. She softened my dad a lot and brought him much closer to where I am.”
Mount finds it fitting that his story will debut at Wabash. After losing a community rooted in faith and not yet fitting into one based in sexuality, he found the College a place in which he could invest himself.
“I was blown away by how serious the students were taken, the environment, and the expectations set for them,” Mount says. “You are involved intimately with your education. It just added up to this really cool community.”
Wabash gave him the freedom to choose, to make mistakes, and to learn. He got involved, took a stand, and found his way. He joined a fraternity; served as president of ’shOUT, the Wabash gay-straight alliance; and found himself becoming a voice for others.
“That forces you to address a lot of personal questions,” Mount says. “Coming from being in the closet and afraid of being out to being very openly out and advocating for inclusion was a big step for me and my personal maturation.”
Yet being gay isn’t the defining characteristic for Mount. He has expressed his views on campus on a variety of issues.
“I’m taken seriously because it’s such a small campus, where your words and deeds have a larger impact,” Mount says. “People here get to know who you are, what you do, and how you act everywhere, not just, for example as president of ’shOUT. There are other aspects of you as a person, how you live in a community, and the balance you need to achieve.”
Mount has a reputation for immersing himself in his characters.
“He’s very loud and charismatic, always fun to be around,” says his roommate, Ruben Gonzalez ’15. “I remember him screaming at the TKE house during lunch —he’d go into Macbeth mode. Most of the house was in Macbeth, so they all went into Macbeth mode, too!”
There have been more serious moments.
“When he was reading for Macbeth, I remember waking up in the middle of the night and thinking I heard him praying,” Gonzalez says. “When I checked on him, he said, ‘No, I’m practicing lines.’”
But Mount is finding his role in his own play even more challenging. He is still coming to grips emotionally with the subject matter.
“He’s had a heartwarmingly, profoundly difficult time being emotional for himself,” Mills says. “He’s shied away from subjects that were actually really scary and deeply truthful and deeply painful. It’s fascinating when you see him give himself so completely to a character’s emotions, but hasn’t been completely willing to give himself to his own.”
One of those subjects was the death of his mother when he was six. Prior to drafting the script, he’d never talked openly about her battle with lung cancer. Now he is. Gonzalez remembers those difficult conversations and is impressed with how Mount translated them for the stage.
“The emotional parts felt very real,” Gonzalez said after Mount’s reading of the play in December. “I felt like we were having those conversations again. His acting was very much himself, just talking and telling a story.”
The success of the finished play will depend on Mount’s willingness to dig deeper and commit to his story, why he’s telling it, and why it’s important to tell. He has spent much of the past four months seeking those answers.
“Once you hit those specifics,” Mills says, “you really have something special on your hands.”
If the reading in December is any indication, Mount is close to something special. Blix was especially impressed at the way Mount opened with a reading of Mormon scripture and ended the play by inserting himself into the text—an inventive and powerful step in reconciling his two paths.
“He was putting everything into the framework of theater. There was a matter-of-factness about it, an engaging quality to it,” Blix says. “It wasn’t angry or defiant. He was welcoming us into his home. That was extraordinary.”