Gary Anderson co-founded Plowshares Theatre Company in March of 1989. A graduate of Wayne State University, Anderson holds both a bachelor and master degree of fine arts in theater, specializing in directing. Under his leadership Plowshares has developed as the only professional African American theater company in the state of Michigan. Throughout his career he has worked with such well known artists as the playwrights Ron Milner and August Wilson, choreographer George Faison, producer Woodie King Jr. and actresses Denise Nicholas and Stephanie Mills. As a director, Anderson has worked regionally at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery, Cleveland's Karamu Theatre, and at theaters in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Atlanta and Houston. Among his directing credits are Woza Albert, Zooman and the Sign, Pill Hill, The Piano Lesson, Buses, I Am A Man, and Two Trains Running. The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Detroit News, Oakland Press, and Detroit Free Press have nominated him repeatedly for Best Director. In 2000, Anderson received the Detroit Free Press's Lawrence DeVine Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Theater. In May 2003, Anderson received the Michiganian of the Year Award from the Detroit News. The following year he was chosen for recognition by Between the Lines for the Publisher's Award for Excellence at their annual Oscar Wilde Awards. Finally, in 2007 the Detroit Institute of Arts' Friends of African and African American Art bestowed the prestigious Alain Locke Cultural Arts Award on Anderson for career achievement.