From Stage Lights to Dragon Fights

Dan Wisniewski '17 records audiobooks in the litRPG subgenre of the fantasy genre. Photo submitted.

Dan Wisniewski '17's office may look like a recording studio, but the worlds he creates inside it stretch far beyond four walls. With a voice trained for the stage and a talent for transforming words into immersive experiences, Wisniewski has become a sought-after narrator in the booming world of fantasy audiobooks-particularly within the rapidly growing sub-genre known as litRPG.

Short for "Literary Role Playing Game," litRPG blends the storytelling of fantasy and science fiction with the mechanics of video games and tabletop role-playing games. Characters often track their progress through levels, experience points, abilities, quests, and rewards-creating a world where the rules of a game become part of the story itself.

He has recorded more than 300 titles and counting, bringing to life stories filled with dragons, orcs, warriors, quests, and impossible adventures.

And he is just getting started.

Upon graduating fromIthaca College's Musical Theatre program, Wisniewski was headed to the stage. Photo submitted.

A graduate of Ithaca College's Musical Theatre program, Wisniewski came to IC from Northeast Philadelphia knowing he wanted a life in performance. After graduation, he returned to his hometown and immersed himself in Philadelphia's vibrant theatre scene, earning an apprenticeship at the Walnut Street Theatre. A year later, he and his now-wife, Faith Maciolek '18, moved to New York City, settling in Hell's Kitchen.

Almost immediately, opportunity arrived. Wisniewski booked the international tour of the musical adaptation of Gone with the Wind , hired as the alternate for the male lead, Rhett Butler.

When he returned to NYC he lived what he calls his "starving artist period," auditioning constantly while working multiple part-time jobs. In March 2020, he booked an off-Broadway production, called Romeo and Bernadette . The same week, the COVID epidemic hit and the world-especially the theatre world- went into shutdown.

But another opportunity was waiting.

One of Wisniewski's side jobs was working as a voice actor for a startup audiobook company he found through Backstage. The company recognized what theatre audiences had already experienced: Wisniewski had a commanding, professionally trained voice with the ability to captivate an audience.

They hired him and trained him as an audio book narrator which gave him a new skillset during a time when musical theatre was on a pause. He kept reading, they kept giving him titles, and what began as a casual run quickly became a max-level occupation (that's litRPG speak for a full-time job).

It wasn't the end to his stage work. Once the world started to open back up, he found himself balancing the two. Romeo and Bernadette came back, and then in a full circle moment, he landed the role of the Beast in Beauty and Beast at the Walnut Street Theatre back in Philly.

There have been a few commercials and video games, but it's the worlds of stubborn spellcasters, monster companions, curses and magic that this narrator prefers.

His catalog spans hundreds of titles, including multiple bestsellers and award-winning works.

Wisniewski with his first Readers Favorite Award - the Bronze Medal in their Audiobooks category in 2022 for the book "Oblivion Awaits". He later took the top prize Gold Medal in the same category in 2023 for the book "The Executioners".

Wisniewski's reputation spread quickly among litRPG authors and publishers. Royal Guard Publishing praised his work and recommended him within the litRPG community via group chats, his Discord and Facebook pages. [SM1]

Wisniewski then began receiving offers from authors and major audiobook production companies. Sometimes, these are one-book deals, sometimes it is for a series. His offers from Podium Entertainment and Aethon Audio were for contracts and a title of "Audio Collaborator".[SM2] These contracts mean the company blocks a certain number of hours on Wisniewski's calendar and then sends him manuscripts to read.

He was recently sent a title that the writer said he wrote with Wisniewski in mind. This means the author wrote the book hearing Wisniewski's voice in the back of their head and wrote it so he would read it.

A distinction working in Wisniewski's favor is that he does not only narrate. He acts. Wisniewski uses his IC Musical Theatre degree to perform the books. "Even though people know it's just me, I want to help them forget that," he says.

That means creating distinct voices for every character - sometimes dozens within a single book. This differs from simply reading a book through. He has even sung in an audiobook, performing a song in five different parts as five different characters.

The response from listeners? "The book is great, but how did he manage to sing all of the characters so distinctly?"

Wisniewski's answer is simple: "Musical theatre, baby!"

His Ithaca College training continues to shape his work every day. He records five to six hours daily, a demanding schedule that requires vocal strength and endurance. His theatre education taught him to treat his voice like an instrument-one that requires technique, care, and preparation.

He still uses the same warm-ups he practiced as a student.

"That four years has allowed me to basically feel kind of unstoppable in my job," he says. "Which is a fantastic testament to the training I received."

Wisniewski also edits his recordings, an uncommon skill among narrators. Wisniewski's taught himself. The startup cost wasn't much, mostly an investment of time. "I started out with a hope, and a prayer, and a sound-dampening blanket over my head, and a decent condenser mic in a Hell's Kitchen apartment," he recalls.

His advice to students: "You are your only limiter. There is genuinely nothing that you cannot do, as long as there is conscious continuous effort."

He has been a science fiction and fantasy fan for as long as he can remember-and now he gets to spend his days stepping into those worlds and inviting others along. He can immerse himself in worlds and make them come alive, all day long.

For Wisniewski, it's about imagination. Anything can happen in fantasy, with amazing, massive stories that require imagination. What does a dragon sound like? He gets to find out.

"I think that an audiobook needs to be as imaginative as the book would be in my own head if I were reading it," Wisniewski says. "It needs to be that big. It needs to be that colorful. I know it'll never match my imagination, or a reader's imagination, because the imagination is limitless. But if I can capture a little bit of that, that's what I go for."

And with every story he tells, Wisniewski proves that imagination-like a great performance-has no limits.

The School of Music, Theatre and Dance's Department of Theatre and Dance Performance provides rigorous and highly individualized training to prepare students for the stage of their dreams.