‘Godfather’ of South Florida theater Joseph Adler dies at 79

Theater director Joseph Adler was once described as “a compact, energetic man with flowing gray-white hair, chic rimless glasses and a tiny diamond sparkling from his left earlobe.”

All true.

But that physical description of the Carbonell Award-winning director at GableStage is the only place where words like “compact” apply to this giant of the South Florida theater community.

Adler, who lived in Kendall and died on Thursday at 79 after a long battle with cancer, was “larger than life,” his friend and colleague Michael Spring said.

“He had these very strong ideas about everything,” said Spring, the director of the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Department. “Joe was outspoken about letting people know what was right and what was wrong. His moral and artistic compass was infallible. He helped shape the theater scene in South Florida and it was Joe’s belief in, and insistence in using, the talent in our community that helped his company get where it was.”

One of those South Florida talents is actor Gregg Weiner who won a 2010 Best Actor Carbonell award for his role in “Fifty Words,” under Adler at the Coral Gables theater.

Adler even officiated Weiner’s wedding. “I still remember when we asked him and how touched and moved and happy he was to do it,” Weiner said.

‘Second father’ to South Florida actor

“It certainly didn’t take the passing of Joe for me to understand and be so grateful for his effect on my life personally,” Weiner added. “He was genuinely like my second father. Tough as nails on me when I needed it and loving and supportive when I earned it. I did 17 shows with him but he was more than a mentor. He brought greatness out of people. He certainly made me plumb my depths as an actor.

“I think what set Joe apart was his unbridled passion for what he loved and believed in. I consider myself so lucky and blessed to love and be loved by him,” Weiner said.

‘Godfather’ of Miami theater

“Joe was, in so many was, the godfather of edgy, serious theater in South Florida,” said Christine Dolen, the Miami Herald’s former longtime theater critic. “An uncounted number of the region’s finest actors worked with him. The experience wasn’t always easy; Joe loved to push, prod and debate, and rehearsals could be an intense experience. But his gifts as a director, his often cinematic staging style, resulted in highly impactful theater and numerous Carbonell Awards.”

Dolen first met Adler when she was just out of high school. She had come to visit her dad in Florida, actor Bill Hindman, who was in a play Adler was directing.

“Joe always credited my dad with getting him back into South Florida theater, which he dominated for decades,” Dolen said.

Adler, born Oct. 5, 1940, lived in South Florida since he moved from Brooklyn when he was a kid.

At 15, he was among South Florida’s cultural luminaries attending the lavish opening night of the Coconut Grove Playhouse on Jan. 3, 1956, with the American premiere of Samuel Beckett’s absurdist masterwork, “Waiting for Godot.”

The excitement of the stage captivated the teen. Adler soon studied theater at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie-Mellon University and graduated from New York University’s film program.

Adler worked in advertising on Madison Avenue at Doyle Dane Bernbach for awhile in the “Mad Men” era of the 1960s. But as a newlywed to his wife, the late Joan Murphy, in 1969 he came back to South Florida to direct a low-budget horror movie, “Scream, Baby, Scream,” that was written by prolific TV scribe, Larry Cohen of “The Invaders” fame.

Life struggles

As Adler juggled life as a husband and father, writing and directing several other low budget movies and directing commercials, his life sometimes lapsed into its own version of horror.

An addiction to booze and cocaine cost him several directing jobs but he shook those demons for good by 1992.

“Joe had fought and conquered some demons earlier in his life, and he never stopped grieving the early death of his wife, actress Joan Murphy,” said Dolen. “But at GableStage, he channeled all of his outspoken passion into producing intimate, challenging theater that made audiences think, react and come away changed. He was never afraid of controversy or tough material — on his trips to Broadway and Off-Broadway to consider plays for his upcoming seasons, those were the plays he sought out. Political plays, Jewish-themed work, shocking plays such as Sarah Kane’s ‘Blasted’ were all Joe Adler plays.”

Never compromising, always provocative

At the start of the 2019-2020 theater season, Adler told the Miami Herald he was gratified “of the fact that we have grown over the last two decades — while never compromising when it comes to producing provocative and often controversial material.”

Of his audiences, he said, “I hope they think GableStage has consistently produced worthwhile productions — because consistent quality is definitely the hallmark of an important theater.”

Local talent and his last work

Said Spring of Miami-Dade’s Cultural Affairs: “Joe really believed we had the talent here in South Florida to make a theater scene. Everything he did at GableStage pivoted off of that.“

Adler’s insistence on tapping the talents of local actors, technicians and support staff helped the small GableStage, tucked into Coral Gables’ Biltmore Hotel, thrive since he became its artistic director in 1998.

Under Adler’s leadership, GableStage has been the recipient of more than 60 Carbonell Awards and more than 200 Carbonell nominations — South Florida’s version of Broadway’s Tony Awards. Adler has been nominated 21 times as Best Director and won nearly half of those times — 10 victories for works like “The Shadow Box” that he staged at Coconut Grove Playhouse in 1979, and a slew for shows at GableStage including “A Lesson Before Dying,” James Joyce’s “The Dead” and Edward Albee’s “The Goat.”

Adler was also awarded the George Abbott Award for “significant contributions to the artistic life and cultural development of greater Miami, Fort Lauderdale and the Palm Beaches.”

All of this heft is what got his name attached to leading a smaller iteration of the long- and still-shuttered Coconut Grove Playhouse more than a decade ago — something he was still working toward alongside Spring and others in the oft-contentious and political worlds of the arts in South Florida.

His last directing job was Arthur Miller’s “The Price.” The drama did not get to open due to the coronavirus shutdown. Actress Patti Gardner, who had worked on 11 productions under Adler’s direction, had completed rehearsals with her castmates.

“I used to say I would walk through fire for Joe Adler, and many times I felt I did,” Gardner said. “There was no censor when it came to Joe’s thoughts and feelings about politics, religion and anything that was going on in the world. But that included his heart. There was no censor there, as well. He let you know how much he loved you. Believed in you. He knew how to apologize. He knew how to say, ‘I think I was wrong.’”

Working on “The Price” was a different experience, she said. “Joe was weak and did not spend long hours rehearsing. Not the way he used to. But to be in the rehearsal room with Joe was always exciting and an honor, and I can only hope that this production, his last production, will be performed at some point in the future. It was completed. Costumes, lights, sound cues. It was all there. And it had Joe’s stamp on it.”

Adler left instructions

Adler knew he wasn’t going to win his latest health battle. But that didn’t stop him from directing right to the very end, Spring said.

“I spoke to Joe earlier this week and he told me that he was not going to recover. He gave me specific instructions — and it was just like Joe. He was loving and demanding all at the same time. He told me my responsibility was to be working with the board at GableStage to make sure there was a future course for the company and he instructed me to succeed at the Coconut Grove Playhouse. Joe was ever the director, right to the end,” Spring said.

GableStage president and board chair Steven Weinger said Adler gave the same directive at his theatrical home.

“That’s what Joe wanted us to focus on now,” Weinger said in an email to the Miami Herald. “GableStage is well positioned for this transition. We have staff in place and the reputation and resources for Joe’s successor to be the second-best talent in the world — Joe will always remain number one in my estimation.

“Our community needs GableStage and we will continue to grow and thrive — to honor Joe’s legacy and to fulfill our mission as a nationally recognized non-profit arts organization. I suppose you can guess my proposal for the naming of the Coconut Grove Playhouse when it finally reopens.”

When it does happen and, for Joe, you have to hope it will, the theaters will carry his legacy.

Working with the ACLU

“Joe’s influence inspired other artists to start their own companies. He was also extremely generous, offering his space for free for readings and other arts events, and staging previews to benefit different organizations such as the ACLU, which he strongly supported,” Dolen said.

“His pre-curtain speeches, which could give ulcers to those on his board, were frank, undiplomatic and totally Joe. He would introduce and thank dignitaries, yes, but then wander off into his liberal political opinions, his atheism, whatever crossed his mind,” Dolen said.

That commitment to his principles appealed to Howard Simon, the former executive director of the Florida ACLU and now a public advocacy advocate and founder of the Clean Okeechobee Waters Foundation.

“Joe’s years of work made Miami a wonderful place to live. But I want to make sure that Joe is also remembered for expanding freedom in Miami,” Simon said. “He courageously convinced the board of directors of GableStage to join with the Miami Light Project as plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit that ended the county’s ‘Cuba Ordinance’ that involved a ban on Cuban artists and their work in county-supported venues [in 2000.]

“Miami Light Project and GableStage were our only plaintiffs. Many groups condemned the ordinance; only the Miami Light Project and — because of the board’s respect for Joe — GableStage had the courage to lend their names to the legal challenge. He made a huge contribution to changing the political climate and culture of our Miami community — for the better,” Simon said.

“When I think of the treasures of our community, Joe always comes to mind,” added David Lawrence Jr., chair of The Children’s Movement of Florida and former Miami Herald publisher. “The thought-provoking plays he produced were special, but what was most special about Joe was his robust, almost fierce caring about those less fortunate than so many of us. I loved that man.”

Survivors

Adler’s survivors include his son Noah, and longtime partner Donna Urban. There is no information on services or a memorial yet.