I’ve been asked for years to write a book about the unique way that I teach acting. But every time I’ve sat down at my computer I’ve wanted to write fiction, not a how-to book, so instead I’ve integrated my knowledge of acting teaching into my novels. Geoffrey Hyland in two of the five Shanghai mysteries has come to Shanghai to direct a production of Twelfth Night (I’ve directed it twice myself) and Decker Roberts, the lead in the Junction Chronicles series (The Placebo Effect and A Murder of Crows which is coming out March 19th) actually teaches in the acting studio that I started in Toronto—Pro Actors Lab.

I travel all over the world teaching the very best of the very best actors in the US, Canada, China, South Africa—and hopefully soon in Turkey and the UK. The actors I’ve taught—many of whom I prep for most of their big time film and TV shooting—are names familiar to you all. There isn’t a show on Canadian TV that doesn’t feature at least one of my clients.

I was a professional theatre director for twenty years in the United States with two Broadway shows to my credit, dozens of regional theatre credits and I ran a major American Regional Theatre so it was a bit of shock to me when I returned to Canada, where I'd been born and raised, to find that the Canadian theatre community wanted nothing to do with me. Apparently I was a traitor. If I had spent twenty minutes directing in Eastern Europe rather than twenty years directing in America I believe I would have been welcomed back by the Canadian theatre with open arms.

But this shunning sent me to writing, so it worked out for the best. And let’s be honest, not a lot is happening in that community that’s of much interest any longer.  HBO and AMC have thoroughly replaced the theatre for serious viewers. But I still spend between 25 and 40 hours every week training and prepping actors. And they have had remarkable success.

That success started from a simple observation I had: There just had not been many very bright people thinking about what actors actually do. Acting is the second most consumed of all the art forms—pop music wins hands down. Yet there had been almost no serious intellectual thought given to how the form actually works. And actors had bought into the mediocrity that had been fed to them. Actors had actually agreed to call what they do a craft rather than an art. But surely an actor who plays Laertes in a production of Hamlet has way more to do with the success or failure of the evening than the third violinist has to do with the success or failure of a Beethoven symphony. Yet, you would never hear a violist refer to what they do as a craft—never!

So I started changing that, inventing new ways for actors to understand their art, and the novels have helped with that. The base of acting teaching also anchors my writing. I learn a lot from talented actors every week. Their insights and dedication are extraordinary and a great many of them are avid readers, often chiding me to get on with the next book because they’ve waited long enough to find out what the hung boy is about or why there are so many churches along Annette Street or will Yslan and Decker ever get together.

Well the third book in the series is coming and I’ll attempt to answer at least some of those questions. No title yet for the third book, but take a gander at A Murder of Crows. I think it will draw you further into the world of synaesthetes and Decker Roberts, master acting teacher and a man whose gift (being able to tell when someone is telling the truth) is bringing him closer and closer to a huge truth the likes of which has never been dreamt in his or anyone else’s philosophies.

David Rotenberg has published five mysteries set in modern China as well as the Canadian bestselling historical fiction novel Shanghai. He is also the author of The Placebo Effect, the first book in the Junction Chronicles. He is the artistric director of the internationally renowned Professional Actors Lab. He has directed on Broadway, in South Africa, in major regional theatres in North America, and for television. He directed the first Canadian play staged in the People’s Republic of China. He lives in Toronto.