C. Robert Jones holds degrees from the Universities of South Carolina and Georgia and from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the University of Dijon on a Fulbright grant. He launched his professional career as a theater director by directing twenty-six shows back to back in four seasons at the Little Theatre of Savannah in Georgia. That was followed by thirty-one years as a college professor, chairing theatre programs at Gardner-Webb University and Mars Hill University. As a playwright, he has written about fifty plays covering a wide spectrum of styles and genres, among them The Clown and The Spelling Bee, both of which are widely performed before young audiences. Lanky-a 6'4", 13-year-old boy in a 1913 mountain town-was born in the author's musical "A Belonging Place," in which a country story-teller makes up stories about the character to amuse three local children during long winter nights. Both the fabulist and "his" Lanky stories reappeared in the play's sequel, "Wednesday's Children," and Jones brought Lanky to life as an onstage character in his one-act play, "The Blabbermouth" (www.dramaticpublishing.com). Ever since, both adults and children have appreciated the tales' country flavor, moral uprightness, and the character of a boy who constantly screws up while trying-and eventually succeeding-to make things better.