PETER FENTON
writer + director
THE PLAYS
As a playwright, I have written seven full-length works available for licensing. I would best describe my voice as I like to riff on well-known genres or stories and weave in dark humor and social commentary throughout to create something fresh and snarky that feels familiar and is accessible to audiences. Put simply: I write to make people laugh and think.
If you are interested in reading the full play or staging a production, check out my New Play Exchange profile or send me an email! All run times are approximate. Samples and pitch decks 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 (formerly titled See Amid the Winter Snow)
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 overlooked high school senior tells the story of how he hatched a scheme to manipulate the vote for Homecoming Queen in favor of his big-hearted longshot friend to settle a years-long grudge. His plan went horribly right.
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Coronation had its amateur premiere at Newtown Arts Company in Newtown, PA, in August 2024, directed by Mary Liz Ivins and has since been performed by two high school groups. Currently seeking development opportunities and a professional premiere stage.
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Coronation also has a Community & School Edition available to read upon request and produce ONLY with a cast of Amateur Performers. This version tweaks some characterization, dialogue lines, and stage directions to make the play friendlier for these environments and with important notes for how to cast DAN and MARIA to tell the story in the spirit it was written.
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. I Think We're Lost will make its professional premiere with Pier Players at Theatre Exile in Philadelphia April 10-19, 2026. Currently seeking further professional, community, and university productions.
8 Actors (4F/4M), 110 mins
Recommended Audience: Ages 14+
Compare to: Glass Onion, The Mousetrap
Full-length. A contemporary Agatha Christie-inspired locked room murder mystery in the shadow of late-stage capitalism. At his lavish book launch party, promising young author Harrison Fowler 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. A dark comedy about queer survival, creative ownership, and the stories we tell to stay relevant—even if it kills us.
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Blue Skies Yonder had a staged reading on October 19, 2025, at Artworks in Trenton, NJ, directed by Monah Yancy and starring Fenton himself in the role of Harrison Fowler. Currently seeking development opportunities and a world premiere stage.
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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Abandon All Hope is slated to have a Community & School Edition available to read upon request and produce ONLY with a cast of Amateur Performers, expected to be ready in early 2026.
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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 and was later remounted at Conestoga Valley in 2025 for a 15th Anniversary Production, also 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+
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.