Rowan University Senior Project

January 2026

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Directed by Grace Hoeltje

Recording Engineering by Grace Hoeltje

Post-production Engineering by Grace Hoeltje

Lighting Designed by Ryan Antinoff

Audio Engineered by Shea Gaughan

Scenic Designed by Vinny DiGiannattasio

Illustrated by Olivia Warren

My Theatre Arts senior project, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea: A Radio Play, is a non-traditional, auditory staging of the novel by Jules Verne. I selected four chapters from the novel and translated the text for a staged reading. We recorded the radio play in April 2025 with five voice actors over the course of three days. I then spent the following semester editing, mixing, and mastering the project in ProTools. The project cumulated in a one-hour presentation of the play with visual aids such as lighting and projections. This was mainly done in order to keep the audience engaged as the project was to be presented in a live and more traditional theatrical setting. We tried to mimic the experience of seeing a stage production while still relying on the auditory storytelling to drive the narrative. It was an experiment. The question we ultimately wanted to answer was: do we need to have bodies on stage to tell this story? Is there a way we can use auditory stimulus as the main driving force for this narrative? Will it be just as engaging and impactful as a traditional form of theatre?

Ultimately, I concluded that auditory forms of storytelling, if presented correctly, is just as impactful as traditional theatre, and even more so in certain cases. The live presentation of the project was held on January 24, 2026 in Tohill Theater at Rowan University. The radio play can also be experience to its full capacity via YouTube.

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I became fascinated with classic literature in high school. Like most individuals, I was introduced to classic novels like Huckleberry Finn, The Crucible, The Great

Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, and To Kill a Mockingbird, just to name a few. I connected most with the works of romanticist author Jules Verne, who weaved

transcendentalism and the appreciation of the natural world into his stories. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is not just a science fiction novel; it is a

love letter to transcendentalism and the divine power found in nature. Rather than displaying Captain Nemo as an exile, Verne instead makes it clear to his audience that Nemo is a loner not just by choice, but by fevering necessity. Nemo’s rejection of our definition of humanity and his deep connection to the

wonders of the natural world is the core of his character.