Marjorie Kellogg was born in Santa Barbara, Calif., but at an early age left for San Francisco and New York to pursue a career as a writer. In San Francisco she worked on the copy desk of the Chronicle. In New York, she was sent by Salute magazine to observe the aftermath of World War II in France and Spain. When she returned to the States, she earned a master’s degree in social work at Smith College. She returned to New York where she worked in various social agencies and began writing fiction, plays and films. Among other things, she wrote the screenplay for her novel Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon, and Sylvia Plath’s novel The Bell Jar. Her second novel was Like the Lion’s Tooth. The Oldest Trick in the World, her first play, was directed by Carl Williams at the Henry Street Playhouse. There followed The Smile of the Cardboard Man and After You’ve Gone, both of which starred Sylvia Short. Kellogg wrote the book for a musical Skybound (lyrics by Thayer Burch and music by George Quincy) which was produced by the ASCAP workshop. In 1989 she returned to Santa Barbara to live. Robert Grande-Weiss, the artistic director of the Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara, chose Castaway for its world premiere in May 1997.
