PETER FENTON
writer + director
THE PLAYS
I am a passionate writer and director of film and theater. As a playwright, I have written seven full-length works available for licensing. If you are interested in reading the play or staging a production, check out my New Play Exchange profile or send an email request! All run times are approximate. Samples of select plays are available to be read directly from this website.
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The plays' first drafts were written in the following order: 1. Good Knight and Goodbye, 2. The Thousand-Year Rose, 3. Yuletide Shakedown, 4. Abandon All Hope, 5. I Think We're Lost, 6. Coronation, 7. Blue Skies Yonder.
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6-19+ Actors (4F/2M), 90 mins
Recommended Audience: Ages 12+
Compare to: Mean Girls, Election
Full-length. A story of power, privilege, and visibility disguised as a teen comedy. When cornered by the no-nonsense guidance counselor, a charming but slimy high school senior tells the story of how he crafted a scheme to manipulate the vote for Homecoming Queen in favor of his kind-hearted but unpopular friend to settle a deep-seated score. His plan went horribly right.
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Coronation had its world premiere at Newtown Arts Company in Newtown, PA, in August 2024, directed by Mary Liz Ivins. Currently seeking a professional premiere stage and open to licensing for community, university, and school productions.
4 Actors (2F/2M), 85 mins
Recommended Audience: Ages 14+
Compare to: No Exit, The Good Place
Full-length. Basically No Exit if Jean-Paul Sartre was raised Baptist. When three college freshmen (a scrappy feminist, a naïve evangelical, and a cocky analyst) meet in Hell—which appears as a dorm room—a fun-loving demon forces them to play a game with eternal stakes: The winner goes to Heaven. The others are tortured for eternity.
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Abandon All Hope saw its world premiere Off-Broadway at Theatre Row as part of the 2023 Rogue Theater Festival, directed by Gorman Ruggiero. Currently open to licensing for professional, community, or university productions.
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8 Actors (4F/4M), 110 mins
Recommended Audience: Ages 14+
Compare to: Glass Onion, And Then There Were None
Full-length. A contemporary Agatha Christie-inspired locked room murder mystery in the shadow of late-stage capitalism. At his lavish book launch party, a promising young author spirals under the weight of a mismanaged manuscript and the deadly ambitions of his colleagues and loved ones. In the cutthroat world of publishing, the real killer might be whoever tells the best story.
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Blue Skies Yonder is currently seeking development opportunities and a world premiere stage.
6-11+ Actors (2F/3M/1 Any), 110 mins
Recommended Audience: Ages 14+
Compare to: Wicked, Peter and the Starcatcher
Full-length. A darkly comedic postmodern reimagining of Peter Pan. Wendy is gone, and a college-aged Peter considers leaving Neverland. As her fantasy unravels, Tinker Bell recruits two new arrivals—a “Lost Boy” and a “Wendy 2.0”—and sends them on a secret mission to kill Captain Hook. But as the newcomers confront their existential baggage, they uncover unsettling truths buried in Neverland’s past.
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I Think We're Lost had a staged reading Off-Off-Broadway at The Flea Theater as part of the 2024 Rogue Theater Festival, directed by Peter Fenton and a pilot production ran February 21-March 1, 2025 at Stansbury High School in Stansbury, UT, directed by Glen Carpenter. Currently seeking development opportunities and a professional premiere stage.
11-20+ Actors (4F/7M), 90 mins
Recommended Audience: Ages 12+
Compare to: The Princess Bride, Shrek
Full-length. A deeply unserious knight's quest parody story that raises questions about blind loyalty. When a legendary knight is charged with a quest by the silly king to marry the rejected Disney archetype princess, a dark force plots to take the princess for himself. Along his quest, the knight develops feelings for the king's down-to-earth messenger.
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Good Knight and Goodbye premiered at Conestoga Valley School District in Lancaster, PA in April 2010, directed by Suzanne Fisher. Currently open to licensing for professional, community, university, or school productions.
12-20+ Actors (6F/4M/2 Any), 90 mins
Recommended Audience: All Ages
Compare to: Indiana Jones, Hocus Pocus
Full-length. Theater for young audiences contemporary comedy/fantasy adventure asking what makes a person good or evil. Three storybook witches on the hunt for a treasure, which will only appear for a pure heart, decide to kidnap a kind person. They weren't expecting her to fight back.
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The Thousand-Year Rose had a rolling world premiere, first in October 2016 at Wheaton College's Jukebox Theater in Wheaton, IL, directed by Peter Fenton, before completing its world premiere in April 2017 at Conestoga Valley School District in Lancaster, PA, as Suzanne Fisher's 40th and final production as the middle school play director. Licensing and cast scripts available through Heuer Publishing.
8-10+ Actors (3F/4M/1 Any), 90 mins
Recommended Audience: Ages 10+, those familiar with American holiday media
Compare to: Muppet Christmas Carol, Parks and Recreation
Full-length. A holiday rom-com interrupted by local politics and conspiracy at the North Pole. She's a village school teacher. He's the son of Santa and Mayor Claus. When an otherwise festive romantic comedy plot unfolds, a blackmail scandal in Santa's Workshop turns the peaceful North Pole upside down during Mrs. Claus's campaign for Mayor. Narrated by a sassy talking Snowman.
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Yuletide Shakedown premiered at the Philly Improv Theater as part of the 2019 Philly Fringe Festival in Philadelphia, PA, under the title See Amid the Winter Snow, directed by Amanda Pasquini. Currently open to licensing for professional, community, university, or school productions.