What happens when an artist imagines a conversation that never happened and then brings it to life on stage?

For artist, writer, journalist, and Holderness alumna Shannon Mullen ’97, the answer became a one-woman play, An Addition of One, exploring an imagined meeting between two men shaped by extraordinary fathers, public expectations, artistic risk, and the complicated pursuit of truth: artist Jamie Wyeth and President John F. Kennedy.

The Holderness School community was lucky enough to see an advance performance over the summer of An Addition of One in the Kistler Family Auditorium prior to Shannon's public debut performance in Maine.

What led you to write and perform An Addition of One as a one-woman play vs. a written story?

The idea arrived unmistakably as a play. In 2019, I interviewed artist Jamie Wyeth for an essay I was writing for The New Yorker, and he mentioned a controversial posthumous portrait he'd made in 1967, at age 20, of President John F. Kennedy (JFK). Jamie said he'd never met JFK, so he tried to establish a memory for himself of having encountered the president. He spent time with Kennedy family members and did extensive research in addition to his usual creative process for any portrait. He told me the whole thing became so real to him that he eventually felt as if he had in fact met JFK for about a half hour. Now that was a conversation I wanted to hear!  But it had all taken place in Jamie's mind. Which meant I'd have to write it... 

Both men had famous families whose contributions to the story of America had become part of our history. They'd also had to contend with their famous fathers' legacies in the course of making their own names. I thought these two men could have discussed things with one another that neither could have talked about with anyone else on earth, and what a relief! Their dialogue would have been personal, intimate, intense—everything theater is and does best, and better than any other medium. I felt at once incredibly excited and completely calm as something in my being announced unequivocally: "That's a play!"

A young Jamie Wyeth, age 20, stands with his controversial painted portrait of President John F. Kennedy (JFK).
Photo by Oscar S. Nelder, The Maine Photographer. 

As for the solo show aspect of it, that just made sense to me almost from the start because the whole thing had taken place in Jamie's mind. I also felt strongly that JFK was such a hugely iconic figure that it would be impossible for any actor to make him their own, which would always distract any audience. The obvious answer was to free them from that distraction by playing both roles myself.

As for whether it could also work as a written thing, well, interestingly, a lot of people who've seen the play have asked to read the script afterward. I absolutely love research, and I did years and years of it for this play, so there's a lot of information packed into its 18 pages. It's no surprise to me that some people want more time with it all, especially those who lived through the Kennedy era and really miss both his form of leadership and oratory style. So I am looking into publishing the text in some form. I'm also now adapting part of the play as a screenplay for a film adaptation!

How did you come up with the storyline?

At the outset, I told Jamie that I wanted the play to be as much a work of nonfiction as possible, and to be able to say that it was developed with his participation, almost like an authorized autobiography. He was intrigued by the idea and agreed to let me interview him regularly. I also read biographies of both men's fathers, and of JFK, as well as Jamie's archives of all the press he got in the first two decades of his career.

I noticed that Jamie had faced several consecutive public rejections of his early portraits leading up to and culminating in his high-stakes decision to paint JFK, one of the most famous men who'd ever lived. I saw a lot of parallels to JFK's own trajectory as a young politician, so I imagined him teasing that out of Jamie in the course of their conversation, and ultimately giving him tacit permission to paint the provocative portrait Jamie ended up doing. That struck me as a simple but wildly compelling narrative. I believed it was no coincidence that Jamie chose to paint JFK at a time when he was reckoning with a run of negative reactions to his work and questioning whether he wanted to keep subjecting himself to rejection.

In choosing to paint one of the most famous men who'd ever lived, he seemed to be saying to both the world and himself: I know when I've got something right, and I don't care what anyone else thinks.

Similarly, JFK had his own huge failures that he overcame only when he chose to trust his intuition. Suffice it to say, it all resonated for me personally. In writing this play, I came to a similar realization and confidence about my own work.  

You worked with Jamie Wyeth, the painter of the JFK painting, to gain insight into the piece; did you create the final story together?

No, Jamie was not involved in that way. In fact, he often seemed quite surprised when I'd call him up and tell him my take on this or that. I was always unearthing details he'd forgotten about, which in turn would spark his memory and reveal bits of information that would send me down new roads in my research. But he never tried to steer or influence my work in any way. 

In fact, there came a point when I think it was clear to both of us that I was making a sort of portrait of him, and he was absolutely not going to tell me whether my interpretation of him was right or wrong, in much the same way as he'd known in 1967 that he had to decide for himself whether to trust his interpretation of JFK.

Shannon '97 with Jamie Wyeth after the opening night of An Addition of One.
Photo by Jason E. Goodman.

From there I knew I had to decide for myself, too. And it was a hugely pivotal decision for me, because I too was coming to trust my intuition as an artist in a new way, come what may, and completely independent of what any other living soul would ever think of my work.

What do you hope people take away from your show?

The play touches on some universal human themes that I hope will resonate with anyone who sees it, regardless of how much people know about JFK or whether they've ever seen a painting by any of the Wyeths. The two characters talk about family and friendship, as well as politics, history, and the role of artists and art in global society. But at its core, the play is about human nature and our relationship with truth—how honest we choose to be with ourselves and one another about who we are, and how we choose to react when the truth makes us uncomfortable. 

Shannon '97 performs An Addition of One at Pascal Hall in Rockport, Maine. Summer 2026.
Photo by Dina Rudick, Anthem Multimedia.

From the start of Jamie's career, a lot of his work has made people uncomfortable. He's been punished for that by those who weren't ready to face the truths his work revealed, including some of his own subjects. As Jamie tells JFK in the play: "I'm not sure anybody really likes their own portrait." And JFK believed unflinching art is vital to the future of civilization, particularly for saving those in power from themselves.  As he, in turn, tells Jamie: "We need artists to show us the unromantic truth, that our humanity can be our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness."

Will you be doing more performances of it?

I'd love to! In its current iteration, as a one-woman show with almost no set, I can perform the play pretty much anywhere, from a traditional theatrical venue with a packed house to a sidewalk cafe with one person for an audience. I've had some inquiries from a few theaters following the success of the show's debut in Maine, so we'll see where it leads me next!

See An Addition of One at Waldo Theater in Waldoboro, Maine in November. Check Shannon's website for updates.

Was writing and acting in a play outside your comfort zone? If so, what helped you find confidence in it?

I'm not afraid of discomfort, or I wouldn't be much of an artist! But no, doing this play is a return to my roots after a long hiatus from the stage. Some of my earliest memories are of acting in school plays as a child, or staging my own elaborate productions. I thank my stars that I was also deposited by my mother in Martha Kesler's youth theater program at Holderness, and I took part in her singular productions all the way through my senior year, when she broke her hip, and I stepped in for her to direct the annual senior play. Actually, that production was the highlight of my time at Holderness. (I wrote a loose adaptation of Disney's animated version of Robin Hood and did all the casting, costumes, etc., and my classmates and I had a blast doing that show.)

But I detoured away from theater in college, so it was a full-circle delight to literally return to that very same stage when I started developing this play with vital and pivotal support from Monique Devine. Her presence and feedback during the process of getting the production on its feet as a one-woman show absolutely bolstered my confidence. By then I'd also held a public table reading with a friend, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Most importantly, at this point in my life and career, I've finally come to trust my intuition, and I've let it guide me from the moment I typed the words "END OF PLAY" in my script.

What is one piece of advice you would give to an aspiring high-school journalist and/or actor?

Say what only you can say. Focus all your efforts patiently on doing that, and everything else will come together eventually. I promise. Really, it's just another way of saying "be yourself," which is really the best advice I've ever gotten and could possibly give.

About Shannon

Shannon grew up in New England, where she earned her undergraduate degree in pre-veterinary medicine and MA in Broadcast Journalism.

She worked for more than two decades as a reporter for national shows on public radio, including Marketplace, All Things Considered, and Morning Edition.

Her writing has been published by The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, and Boston Globe Magazine, among others, and her first book, In Other Words, Leadership, was published in hardcover in June 2023 and released in paperback in 2025.

In 2009, Shannon founded Broad Reach Productions to develop independent projects for the screen, stage and spoken word. Her first play, An Addition of One, debuted in the summer of 2026. She is also a screenwriter, film producer and director, as well as co-host and editor of the podcast Character.

Shannon is a member of the Board of Advisers to the McGillicuddy Center for the Humanities at the University of Maine.

She is based in the U.S. on the East Coast.