Blair Anderson, Ph.D., is in his seventh year as Chair of the Department of Theatre and Director of Theatres at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. For over a decade, he directed at least two productions a year—typically once at the undergraduate Bonstelle Theatre and once with the graduate repertory company at the Hilberry Theatre. Notable directing credits include: Great Expectations, Scapin, The Tempest, Translations, Brighton Beach Memoirs, A Winter's Tale, The Front Page, Servant of Two Masters, Canterbury Tales, Everything in the Garden, and Harvey. Particular favorites of his are: Interrogating the Nude--an homage to and about Marcel Duchamp; Nothing Sacred--a modern rendition of Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons;" A Taming of the Shrew for which he was nominated for best director by the Detroit News; and Of Mice and Men and Mother Courage and Her Children—both of which were nominated for best director and best production by the Detroit Free Press. He also directed Isaac Basheviz Singer's Tiebele and Her Demon for the old Attic Theatre on Grand Boulevard in 1990.

Professor Anderson received his BA from Wartburg College (Waverly, IA), his MA from Western Illinois University (Macomb, IL) and his PhD from Wayne State University in 1989. His dissertation is entitled: The Demythicization of the American Dream: A Critical Analysis of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Plays from 1965 – 1985. Dr. Anderson has taught students at all levels of the university, including BFA and MFA students as well as PhD candidates. Presently he teaches theatre aesthetics yearly, while advising doctoral students in theatre history. He has also taught dramatic literature, dramatic theory and criticism, theatre history, and performance studies.

Originally from Iowa, Blair has taught and directed both at Oakland University and at Wayne State for the past twenty years. His wife, Professor Melinda Pacha—coincidentally also from Iowa though they met in Detroit—is a professor and Scenic/Costume Designer at the University of Detroit-Mercy and has free-lance designed professionally throughout the greater Detroit area. Their best collaboration to date is their 14-year-old daughter, Miranda.

Most rewarding for him are the many former students doing quite well in a very difficult and over-crowded profession. "When they come back and thank us after being out and working, and acknowledge what they've learned; it means quite a lot to me and the rest of our faculty," says Blair.

From 1998-2001, Dr. Anderson served as a Theatre segment host for the popular Backstage Pass weekly show on Detroit’s PBS television station, Channel 56. Other interests include the other fine arts, post-modern architecture, performance art, self-reflexive works from Cervantes to Eco, traveling, and camping . . . . but only if he's not golfing.