Mary Schaller is a native of Washington, D.C. (and remains staunchly non-partisan for survival!), an army brat and navy wife. She graduated from the University of San Diego with a degree in Theatre Arts, and early in her career she worked in the communications department at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in Culver City, Calif. Nearly 30 years ago, she returned to the Washington area where she has worked at the Folger Shakespeare Library as a docent since 1979. She was a director for the Fairfax (Va.) Children's Theater and has taught drama, especially Shakespeare's plays, for the Fairfax County Department of Recreation; she directed 40 children's theater plays including 21 Shakespearean productions. Three of her plays: All the World's a Stage, The Final Trial of Richard III and Once Upon a Summertime were written and produced for her drama students. Two Horns and a Tale was written for an elementary school in Virginia Beach, Va., and was filmed by the local PBS television station there. Once Upon a Summertime has also been filmed for the Fairfax County community television station. All the World's a Stage has not only been produced in the United States and Canada but it has also been performed in London, England, and in Australia. Schaller is the author of 10 romantic historical novels published under her pen name (Tori Phillips) by Harlequin. She has published two nonfiction books as well on the American Civil War. Schaller lives in Burke, Va., with her husband, Marty, and loves to take cruises to the Caribbean, ice skate and read books—though not simultaneously!
