Frederick Stroppel

Frederick Stroppel began writing for the theatre back in the 1980s; his first full-length play, The Price of Tea, was produced in NYC in 1986 at the Courtyard Playhouse in Greenwich Village. He became resident playwright of the Courtyard Players, and two years later, his play A Good Man, a black comedy set in a funeral parlor, was produced and published by Samuel French, Inc. Stroppel’s one-act play Do Over, published in 1990, was the first of the over 100 one-acts that he has written over the years, including A Chance Meeting, The Mamet Women, Glacier Bay, After the Ball, Coelacanth, Friendly Fire, Perfect Pitch and Designated Driver. Many were performed at the legendary Nuyorican Poets Cafe in the East Village of NYC; also at Theatre 22, the Actor's Playhouse, Synchronicity Space, the William Redfield Theatre, the Mint Theater and the Actor's Studio.

He was the head writer for the sketch comedy group Third Rail Comedy, which performed in clubs throughout NYC such as Catch a Rising Star, the Gotham Comedy Club and Caroline's in the mid-90s. In 1995, his full-length comedy Fortune’s Fools was produced off-Broadway at the historic Cherry Lane Theatre, directed by John Rando, and went on to productions throughout the world. Other plays include Actor!, The Christmas Spirit, Tales From the Manhattan Woods (a modern adaptation of Die Fledermaus, for which he wrote book and lyrics) and The Hunter’s Moon, a suspense thriller. In 2015, his comedy Small World, about Walt Disney, Igor Stravinsky and the making of Fantasia, premiered at the Penguin Rep Theatre in Stony Point NY, directed by Joe Brancato, and moved to off-Broadway in 2017. Other plays in a historical vein are Fall River (Penguin Rep, 2017), about the murder trial of Lizzie Borden; River of Doubt, about Teddy Roosevelt’s ill-fated trip into the Amazon wilderness; and Kellyanne and George, about the political absurdities of the Trump presidency. Stroppel’s most recent full-length is Marjorie, a dark comedy about the spread of gun violence in the US.

As a screenwriter, his filmed screenplays include A Brooklyn State of Mind (Danny Aiello, Tony Danza, Vincent Spano, Abe Vigoda), Almost Pregnant (Jeff Conaway, Tanya Roberts, Dom DeLuise), Glacier Bay (Jim Noble, Dorothy Bryce) and Tomorrow’s Today (Burt Young, Kelly LeBrock). He developed, wrote and directed the web series Suburban Legends, which can be seen on YouTube. He also wrote several episodes for the movie Viral Vignettes, filmed during the Covid pandemic (featuring Robert Wuhl, Don Most, Renee Taylor, Fred Melamed, Jane Kaczmarek, Maxwell Gail, Barry Bostwick, Linda Purl) which is streaming online. In books, he was the co-author with Sachi Parker of her memoir Lucky Me: My Life With – And Without – My Mom, Shirley MacLaine.

Stroppel lives in Glen Cove, NY with his wife Liz, a music teacher, and son Joe, a budding opera singer.