Thursday, October 1, 2026
Between 90 and 100 community members are expected to pack the parish hall at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Saturday for a dramatization of Barbara Pym’s “Crampton Hodnet.” The dinner and performance event will serve as a fundraiser for the church as it looks to begin renovations.
Sea Cliff residents Dan DiPietro and Fred Stroppel have adapted scenes from the Pym novel to be read by the village’s performance troupe that participates in other annual events like the Sea Cliff Civic Association’s Scrooge Stroll and James Joyce Jaunt.
DiPietro and Stroppel began dramatizing Pym novels during the shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. DiPietro is part of the Barbara Pym Society, which meets for conferences in Massachusetts. When the society was forced to cancel its conferences during the pandemic, DiPietro adapted scenes to be performed and filmed by actors in their own homes in the United States and England. Stroppel edited together their performances and posted the videos on YouTube.
Stroppel said that actors had different ideas of what direction to take with their performances.
“The actual filming, it was just interesting, and it’s funny,” he said, “because nobody really matched up.”
After three videos which garnered thousands of views, they decided to transition to live performances at St. Luke’s. The first was in November of 2024 and the second in January of 2025.
“Crampton Hodnet” was the first novel DiPietro and Stroppel adapted for a video. The comedy is set in North Oxford, England in the 1930s. It follows multiple characters as they become entangled in various romantic situations.
“I think it’s Pym’s funniest novel,” DiPietro said. “Others might agree or not agree.”
DiPietro writes the scenes before Stroppel, who has a background in screenwriting, reviews them. He then makes some changes to allow scenes to work better on stage. DiPietro explained how preparing to perform at St. Luke’s differs from making a YouTube video.
“There still was work involved in moving it from a film version to a live performance,” he said. “We dropped one of the subplots because it would have created too large a cast for the space.”
The performers have had several rehearsals, and Friday night will be their dress rehearsal. Stroppel and DiPietro both said that rehearsals have gone well.
“It’s a very relaxed group of people,” Stroppel said. “We know them all. They’re all friends, and so there’s not a lot of stress involved.”
In addition to the performance, attendees will be provided dinner catered by longtime Sea Cliff resident Lisa Harir and desserts from local business Sleepy Jean’s Bake Co. There will also be a music trivia contest based on music connected to the performance. Trivia winners will receive prizes.
At $75 per person, ticket proceeds will go toward renovations at St. Luke’s. Last year’s event was also a fundraiser for the church, with the money going toward operating costs.
Renovations will include installing air conditioning in the parish hall and improving accessibility.
“The basic idea here,” said The Rev. Jesse Lebus, the rector of St. Luke’s, “is that we’re trying to improve hospitality.”
Lebus, who acted in last year’s Pym adaptation, explained that lacking air conditioning makes it very difficult to use the parish hall in the summer because the space gets too hot. One event he noted as getting disrupted by the heat is the senior lunch program run by the Sea Cliff Senior Outreach Network.
He added that while there is not yet a timeline for construction, an architect has been chosen and plans have been proposed.
“Anything we can do to help (St. Luke’s) achieve that goal is worth the effort,” Stoppel said. “So, I’m looking forward to it.”
