Staged Reading of New Dark Comedy BLUE SKIES YONDER to Premiere at Artworks Trenton

Artworks Trenton will host the first public presentation of Blue Skies Yonder, a new dark comedy by playwright Peter Fenton, on Sunday, October 19 at 2:00pm. The free staged reading will be directed by Trenton actress, writer, and acting coach Monah Yancy, and will star Fenton himself in the role of Harrison Fowler. Both Fenton and Yancy currently serve on the administrative staff of Passage Theatre, Trenton’s only professional theater company.

Blue Skies Yonder is a contemporary Agatha Christie-inspired locked room murder mystery, set against the backdrop of late-stage capitalism. At his extravagant book launch party—complete with a menacing ice sculpture of a bird of prey—rising author Harrison Fowler struggles with a mismanaged manuscript and the ruthless ambitions of colleagues and loved ones. In this cutthroat world of publishing, someone may get away with murder, but the real danger lies in who controls the story. The play explores queer survival, creative ownership, and the destructive power of ambition.

Joining Fenton in the ensemble cast are Jim Fenton, Samuel Cheng, Avery Kellington, Dave Garrett Sarrafian, Brittaney Delsarté Chatman, Minh-Chau Scott, and Hayley Jo Pellis, bringing together a diverse group of performers from Philadelphia, New York, and New Jersey.

“The pressure to keep up the perfect story—with a perfect Instagram feed, perfect career, perfect interracial gay love story—it will kill us all,” said Fenton. “I’ve had a lifelong love of Agatha Christie and Clue, and I realized this genre was a perfect vehicle to explore how unchecked ambition and aesthetics consume us.”

Director Monah Yancy added, “This is a whodunnit filled with greed, lust, sabotage, and all the addictions that come with wanting something immediately at any cost. We live in a society where people want everything now, but what happens when it isn’t for you, and you want it anyway? What price are you willing to pay?”