Under the Canvas Skies is set in a Victorian burlesque dark misty deranged circus tent. The lights burn bright in center stage of. The theme of the circus symbolizes the terrorizing chaos of the creator. The story is an Impressionistic detailing of the sufferings of our mankind led in the hands of a Ringmaster and the Illusionist as they humiliate the lover to the point of their slow, painful, fatal demise. They degrade the lovers by caging a contortionist and her husband, the heir of the circus, into the ventriloquist dummy.
In 1891, Lewis Patrick mourns the lost of his beloved grandfather, Grand Marshall Patrick, the grandfather of the modern day freak show circus. Raised by his grandfather since he was four years old after the tragic deaths of his parents, Lewis is the new patriarch in the family. Upon his Grand Marshall’s passing, Lewis claims his inheritance. Among the money, he inherits a young new theater troupe in London Square named the Grand Masquerade. It is in this theater where he meets the love of his life, Evelyn Bradford, a former child prodigy and circus contortionist, and the two masters of mayhem that spawns seven years of turmoil in the lives of Lewis and everyone affected around him.
Among the new members of Patrick’s circus troupe are Harold Dean and Viola Ruth. Harold, Evelyn’s former lover, is an abusive beast who uses his body as a pillar of fear for anybody who out of his control. The Master Illusionist, son of very famous magicians in their time, obsesses over Evelyn. When she falls in love, marries, and bears Lewis their children, Harold’s Samson-like strength diminishes as he masterminds the destruction of the Patrick legacy. By his side is Viola Ruth, daughter of the menacing plantation owner Edward Andrew Ruth, and Evelyn’s step-sister.
Evelyn is the illegitimate daughter of Viola’s father and his enslaved mistress, Patsy Bradford. When Marianne Boyles, Viola’s mother, discovers the existence of this extra-marital affair, she murders them in the plantation fields and cares for Evelyn who melts her heart. Soon Marianne discovers Evelyn’s out of this world talent and begins exhibiting her around the country. Viola tags along and quickly becomes her duo partner but Evelyn is the star attraction. Consumed by jealousy, Viola represses her hatred. It resurfaces in full vengeance when she falls in love with Lewis in 1891, only for Lewis and Evelyn fall for each other.
Seven years pass and in the seven years, Lewis and Evelyn give birth to their twins, a daughter name Vivienne Helena and a son name Robert Douglas Patrick in 1894. But by 1898, fearing their untimely demise presiding over Patrick’s reign, Lewis and Evelyn close the circus, infuriating Harold and Viola. They devise a plan to destroy in the family from within but their hate consumes them like wildfire.
In the end, a child is senselessly murdered and the Ventriloquist, the Contortionist, the Ringleader, and the Master Illusionist are aligned to fight in the gauntlet of this cirque de macabre.
Chameleon 