David Rotenberg (author)

Rotenberg was born and raised in Toronto, He was the son of Dr. Cyril Rotenberg, a physician, and Gertrude Ruth "Gertie" Rotenberg.{{cite news |title=Gertrude Ruth ROTENBERG Obituary |url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theglobeandmail/obituary.aspx?n=gertrude-ruth-rotenberg&pid=189709506 |accessdate=8 April 2019 |work=The Globe and Mail |date=21 October 1999}} Rotenberg had three brothers.{{cite news |title=Dr. Cyril Rotenberg Obituary |url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thestar/obituary.aspx?n=cyril-rotenberg&pid=125995144 |work=Toronto Star |accessdate=8 April 2019 |date=11 April 2009}} One of his younger brothers is Robert Rotenberg, a Canadian criminal lawyer and author.{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=Julie |title=Robert Rotenberg on engaging readers, why more men should read fiction and his love of #haiku. |journal=49th Shelf |date=9 May 2012 |url=https://49thshelf.com/Blog/2012/05/092/Robert-Rotenberg-on-engaging-readers-why-more-men-should-read-fiction-and-his-love-of-haiku |accessdate=7 April 2019}}{{cite web |title=Laughing Oyster Bookshop Presents Annual Book Club Suggestions |url=https://www.bookmanager.com/i/167675x/Annual_Book_Club_2012.htm |website=bookmanager.com |accessdate=7 April 2019}}David Rotenberg graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. He left Toronto in 1971.

David Rotenberg taught in British Columbia, where he established the acting program at Simon Fraser University. He directed a production of Bertolt Brecht's Baal in 1973.{{cite web |title=File F-109-12-4-0-7 - Baal (Brecht): directed by David Rotenberg |url=https://atom.archives.sfu.ca/f-109-12-4-0-7 |website=atom.archives.sfu.ca |publisher=Simon Fraser University |accessdate=7 April 2019}} He founded the Professional Actors Lab in Toronto, training actors such as Rachel McAdams and Tom Cavanagh. He also directed productions at major Canadian theatres, including the Stratford Festival and the Canadian Stage Company.

Rotenberg lived in the United States for fourteen years. He earned his Master of Fine Arts degree in directing from the Yale Drama School in 1976. He lived in New York City for ten years, working as a freelance director, participating in regional theatre, and directing the Broadway shows The News and The 1940's Radio Hour. Rotenberg stated that living in Manhattan influenced his work, even after returning to Canada. Rotenberg later moved to New Orleans, where he was on the faculty of Tulane University. York University recruited him back to Toronto. Rotenberg stated he wanted to be closer to his parents and three brothers and felt Toronto was a good place to raise children.

Rotenberg returned to Toronto in 1987, where he taught graduate students. He attempted to resume his directing career but struggled to find work, possibly due to his Broadway experience, according to one account.

"I was a professional theatre director 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."{{cite web |last1=Clare |first1=Kerry |title=David Rotenberg: His Novels Are Anchored by the Art of Acting |url=https://49thshelf.com/Blog/2013/03/21/David-Rotenberg-His-Novels-Are-Anchored-by-the-Art-of-Acting |website=49th Shelf |accessdate=4 April 2019}}

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Rotenberg continued to occasionally direct plays and television in Canada and abroad. In 1994, he directed George Ryga's The Ecstasy of Rita Joe at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, the first Canadian play produced in China with a Chinese cast and creative team. He noted that the play's subject matter, a young First Nation woman leaving the reserve for the city, was not easily understood by the Chinese audience. {{cite news |last1=Wagner |first1=Vit |title=Shanghaied into books, you could say |url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2008/06/23/shanghaied_into_books_you_could_say.html |accessdate=23 August 2019 |work=The Toronto Star |date=23 June 2008}} Despite cultural and language barriers, the production saw "limited" success.{{cite news |last1=Handelzalts |first1=Michael |title=A Canadian in China |url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.5052026 |accessdate=17 August 2019 |work=Haaretz |date=29 October 2008}}

File:Tatiana Maslany by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg]]

In 2000, David Rotenberg, along with David Julian Hirsh and entertainment lawyer Michael Levine, proposed a high-level actor training program to the Canadian Film Centre. Eight years later, the CFC launched a new actor's conservatory and an international co-production training program.{{cite news |last1=Bradshaw |first1=James |title=A Canadian first: actors' training program launched |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/a-canadian-first-actors-training-program-launched/article659445/ |accessdate=8 April 2019 |work=The Globe and Mail |date=8 September 2008}}

File:Rachel McAdams, 2016 (cropped).jpg]]

File:Scott Speedman (16097448059).jpg]]

In 2003, Rotenberg founded the Professional Actors Lab{{cite web |title=Our Studio |url=https://proactorslab.com/studio.html |website=Professional Actors Lab |accessdate=7 April 2019 |archive-date=27 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927133624/http://www.proactorslab.com/studio.html |url-status=dead }} and also taught at Equity Showcase Theatre. Rotenberg worked with approximately 75 actors at any given time, and his students included Tatiana Maslany, Rachel McAdams, Scott Speedman, Sarah Gadon, Ennis Esmer, Patrick J. Adams, David Julian Hirsh, Jonas Chernick, Shawn Doyle, Polly Shannon, and Demore Barnes.

Rotenberg also taught at the National Theatre School of Canada, the University of Cape Town, and Princeton, and taught professional classes in other North American cities. He served as acting coach for My Secret Identity and Friday the 13th: The Series and as a private acting coach for the new Kung Fu on CBS.

Rotenberg began writing following his experience of rejection by the Toronto theatre community. He wrote film scripts, stage plays (including an adaptation of The Great Gatsby), and novels.

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| quote = It is a pleasure to read intelligent thrillers by Canadian writers. David Rotenberg ... is a man of many talents who brings his substantial experience in the theatre to his novels. Not only are they extremely literate and sophisticated, they boast truly inventive characters. Rotenberg ... knows well how to build suspenseful momentum in telling a story.

| source = Valerie Senyk{{cite news |last1=Senyk |first1=Valerie |title=A Murder of Crows, by David Rotenberg |url=https://www.therecord.com/whatson-story/2625942-books-a-murder-of-crows-by-david-rotenberg/ |accessdate=25 October 2019 |work=The Waterloo Region Record |date=March 15, 2013}}

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David Rotenberg authored twelve novels across the mystery, science fiction, and historical fiction genres, with many optioned for film and television. His experience at the Shanghai Theatre Academy inspired his first novel, The Shanghai Murders (1998), followed by four more in the series. The five Zhong Fong novels gained a following and were optioned for film{{cite news |last1=Clare |first1=Stephen Patrick |title=Book Review: The Placebo Effect, by David Rotenberg |url=https://nationalpost.com/afterword/book-review-the-placebo-effect-by-david-rotenberg |accessdate=5 April 2019 |work=National Post |date=17 February 2012}} and television (HBO).

File:1996 -254-13 Shanghai view from The Bund (40549601123).jpg, viewed from The Bund, the principal setting of the Zhong Fong series.]]

His novel Shanghai: The Ivory Compact (2008) spanned thousands of years.{{cite journal |last1=Weinman |first1=Sarah |title=GOING BIG ON SHANGHAI |journal=Maclean's |date=8 September 2008 |url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/2008/9/8/bring-the-family |accessdate=5 April 2019}} Rotenberg wrote it as three novels, but Penguin published it in one volume.{{cite web |last1=Rotenberg |first1=David |title=At the Desk: David Rotenberg |url=http://m.openbooktoronto.com/news/desk_david_rotenberg |website=Open Book Toronto |accessdate=11 April 2019}} It was reportedly optioned by Darius Films{{cite journal |title=Deals: Film options for Richard Wagamese, Anna Porter, and more |url=https://quillandquire.com/omni/deals-film-options-for-richard-wagamese-anna-porter-and-more/ |journal=Quill & Quire |date=12 March 2014 |issue=2011–11 |accessdate=11 August 2019}} and by Jane McLean for television.{{cite journal |title=News from WGC Members |journal=Canadian Screenwriter |date=Fall 2018 |volume=21 |issue=1 |page=28 |url=https://www.writersguildofcanada.com/sites/default/files/resource/2018-11/CanadianScreenwriterFall2018AnnewithanE_0.pdf |accessdate=8 April 2019}}

File:Junction Dundas and Keele Looking East.jpg and Keele, The Junction, Toronto, initial and final setting of The Junction Chronicles.]]

His The Junction Chronicles series is set in Toronto's The Junction.

Robert J. Wiersema described The Placebo Effect (2012) as a thriller "possessed of an enthralling undercurrent" and praised Rotenberg's characterization but questioned the thriller's narrative and philosophical level.{{cite journal |last1=Wiersema |first1=Robert J. |title=The Placebo Effect [review] |url=https://quillandquire.com/review/the-placebo-effect/ |journal=Quill & Quire |date=13 February 2012 |accessdate=11 August 2019}} The trilogy was optioned by producer Don Kurt for television.

In 2017, he published the first book of his The Dream Chronicles series, followed by the second in 2019.{{cite web |title=The Dream Chronicles |url=https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/david-rotenberg/dream-chronicles.htm |website=Fantastic Fiction |accessdate=8 April 2019}}{{cite web |title=The Dream Chronicles Book One |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34593156-the-dream-chronicles-book-one |website=Goodreads |accessdate=2 January 2020}}{{cite web |title=The Dream Chronicles 2 |url=https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/david-rotenberg/dream-chronicles-2.htm |website=Fantastic Fiction |accessdate=10 December 2019}} In 2021, he published ACT - The Modern Actor’s Handbook.

In 2008, Rotenberg mentioned potential projects; a sixth Zhong Fong novel, a sequel to Shanghai, and a book about Canadian actors who studied with him.

Rotenberg cited influences including John Le Carré, Jack Miles, James Lee Burke, Thomas Cahill, Harlan Ellison, William Boyd, Annie Proulx, K.C. Constantine, James Crumley, playwright Robert Litz, and Aaron Sorkin.{{cite web |title=On writing, with David Rotenberg |url=http://members.openbooktoronto.com/news/writing_david_rotenberg |website=Open Book Toronto |publisher=Open Book Foundation |accessdate=22 August 2019}} He described his writing process, noting the differences in his workspace for his different series.

Rotenberg considered the novel genre superior to others, emphasizing character over plot.{{cite journal |last1=Quill |first1=Greg |date=26 March 2013 |title=David Rotenberg's worlds collide: Interview |url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/03/26/david_rotenbergs_worlds_collide_interview.html |journal=Toronto Star |accessdate=4 April 2019}} His teaching and directing experience informed his writing, drawing inspiration from his students' talents and insights and incorporating elements from his career. He believed that Canadian crime writers had an advantage over their counterparts in other countries, focusing more on social and historical context.{{cite news |last1=Quill |first1=Greg |title=Canadian crime novelists: In for the kill |url=https://www.thespec.com/whatson-story/2215762-canadian-crime-novelists-in-for-the-kill/ |accessdate=8 April 2019 |work=Hamilton Spectator |date=26 January 2013}}

Rotenberg lived in The Junction, Toronto with his wife Susan Santiago{{cite web |last1=Selnes |first1=Bill |title=Questions and Answers with David Rotenberg |url=http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.com/2012/01/questions-and-answers-with-david.html |website=Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan |accessdate=28 October 2019 |date=January 18, 2012}} until his death in November 2023. They had two adult children, both dual citizens.

York University announced Rotenberg's death on November 14, 2023.{{Cite web |last=Huls |first=Alex |date=2023-11-14 |title=Passings: David Rotenberg |url=https://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2023/11/14/passings-david-rotenberg/ |access-date=2024-02-21 |website=YFile |language=en-US}}

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;Zhong Fong mysteries

• The Shanghai Murders (1998)
• The Lake Ching Murders (2001)
• The Hua Shan Hospital Murders (2003)
• The Hamlet Murders (2004)
• The Golden Mountain Murders (2005)

;Shanghai (2008)

;The Junction Chronicles

• The Placebo Effect (2012)
• A Murder of Crows (2013)
• The Glass House (2014)

;The Dream Chronicles

• Book 1 (2017)
• Book 2 (2019)

;Original screenplays and teleplays

• Ambition's Debt (optioned by Shaftesbury Films as writer/director){{cite web |title=DAVID ROTENBERG - Director/Writer/Acting Teacher |url=http://www.davidrotenberg.com/Resume_Rotenberg.pdf |website=davidrotenberg.com |accessdate=8 April 2019}}
• Gliders (commissioned by Sy Maloney and Associates; unproduced)
• YYZ (commissioned by Metaphore Productions; unproduced)
• Providence (commissioned by Berryman Production Group; unproduced)
• 8 episodes of Missing Treasures (Global)
• 6 episodes of Actor's Notes (Bravo!)

;Stage adaptations

• Dwarf • based on The Dwarf, a novel by Pär Lagerkvist, York University and Equity Showcase
• Lady in the Lake • based on The Lady in the Lake a novel by Raymond Chandler,York University
• Lulu • based on a character in two plays by Frank Wedekind, Equity Showcase
• The Great Gatsby (2008) • based on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Classical Theatre Project{{cite journal |last1=Fein-Goldbach |first1=Debbie |title=Okay Gatsby |journal=Now |date=29 October 2008 |url=https://nowtoronto.com/stage/theatre/okay-gatsby/ |accessdate=25 July 2019}}

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Category:Canadian theatre directors

Category:Canadian male novelists

Category:Canadian male screenwriters

Category:20th-century Canadian novelists

Category:21st-century Canadian novelists

Category:1950 births

Category:2023 deaths