A Conversation with Daniel Henning: The Voice Behind The House in the Cerulean Sea

About this event

... voice brought this year's SaratogaREADS! community choice book, The House in the Cerulean Sea, to life. A 2-time SOVAS Voice Arts winner, 3-time Audie Award finalist, and New York Times bestselling narrator, Henning’s storytelling magic has earned him recognition as “Best of the Year” by Audible, Apple Books, Goodreads, and more. Don’t miss this exclusive opportunity to hear behind-the-scenes insights into audiobook narration, storytelling, and the power of voice. Moderating the event will be Professor Beck Krefting of Skidmore College. Please register online to attend in-person or via Zoom. Whether you're a fan of The House in the Cerulean Sea or simply love great stories, this is an event you won’t want to miss! This program will serve as the capstone event for our 2025 SaratogaREADS! season.

Daniel Henning is a 2-time SOVAS Voice Arts winner, 3-time Audie Award Finalist, 16-time SOVAS Voice Arts Award nominee and 6-time Earphones Award Winner for his Fiction and Non-fiction narration of over 275 audiobooks. He is a NY Times bestselling audiobook narrator whose works include Somewhere Beyond the Sea, The House in the Cerulean Sea and In the Lives of Puppets. He was recognized as “Best of the Year” by Audible, Apple Books, Google Play, AudioFile Magazine, Goodreads and Overdrive’s ProBookNerds. He is the Founding Artistic Director of Hollywood’s The Blank Theatre, winning over 200 awards for his productions including “Best Production,” from LA Drama Critic Circle Awards, LA Weekly Awards, Ovation Awards, NAACP Theatre Awards, BackStage Garland Awards, Broadway World etc. He was honored by the CA State Legislature as a Pride Honoree for his work in LGBTQ Equality and nurturing the future of the Arts. He won a Telly Award for “Best Writer” for the film version of his play The Tragedy of JFK (as told by Wm. Shakespeare). As director and writer, his TV and film work includes MTV’s Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory and the film Critic’s Choice. He won the NAACP Theatre Award for “Best Director of a Musical” for The Wild Party. He directed the first play by 2016 Tony Award-winner Stephen Karam when Stephen was 17 and a winner in The Blank’s Young Playwrights Festival where Henning also helped launch the careers of NY Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo, Lauren Yee, Austin Winsberg, and hundreds of other young writers. As an actor his work has been seen on HBO, CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, MTV, and Comedy Central. He is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Circle in the Square Theatre School, and American Conservatory Theatre.

Beck Krefting, PhD, is Professor of American Studies specializing in stand-up comedy studies and Director of the Center for Leadership, Teaching, and Learning at Skidmore College. She has published in dozens of books and journals and has been invited to present her scholarship nationally and internationally. Check out her work here. Using her skills as a professional comedian and member of Nashville’s professional improv troupe, the Skeleton Crew, she taught comic theater to adolescents in Washington for six years. When she isn’t professing, you can find her reading great literature like The House in the Cerulean Sea and performing stand-up comedy in the central New York region (Instagram: @beckkrefting).