There's no biz like showbiz for GableStage director

For a man who once dreamed he'd become the next Orson Welles, edgy-theater czar Joseph Adler has fashioned his own rosebud as producing artistic director of GableStage.

The 58-year-old Brooklyn native decided it was show business or bust by the age of 5. He thought he'd be an actor, a la Randolph Scott or John Garfield.

"I didn't realize there was anyone behind the camera, writing the script," he said.

Once he made the connection, he took to the streets of Miami Beach with his 8-millimeter camera. His family had moved to the area in the 1950s to open up Dubrow's Cafeteria on Lincoln Road - the family already owned several Dubrow's in New York.

He studied theater at Carnegie-Mellon University, then transferred to New York University to study film. His first job: An assistant for a New York City production company that filmed television commercials. He made $75 week.

After a few years there, he tried his hand at fund-raising films - one was about a summer camp for kids with heart problems. This led to a chance to direct a low-budget feature film in Puerto Rico called The Fun Lovers.

It wasn't a huge success. He looked to corporate America.

"I decided I needed a little stability in my life," he said.

For three years he found it, working as a producer at Doyle Dane Bernbach advertising where he made television commercials and industrials for companies like Polaroid, Buitoni.

In the late 60s, he took a six week leave of absence to direct the low-budget horror film Scream, Baby, Scream in Miami. He never went back, continuing with television commercial work and then regional theater here.

In his current gig, he not only directs, but picks the shows, heads up casting, leads the fund-raising drive and oversees the budget.

The stage is his thing, the office just a drop pad. He said he spends at most three hours a day in the cramped white space he shares with a copying machine and a dozen cardboard boxes stuffed with box office reports and publicity photos.

His noncorporate approach is evident in his dress: On a recent visit, he wore a jet black long-sleeved silk-blend dress shirt, black trousers and black penny loafers. He sported a diamond stud in his left ear and pulled his gray hair back in a ponytail.

Adler does have a desktop computer - a ViewSonic - but he leaves much of that business to his assistant. He calls his Rolodex a more vital tool. On his desk sits a blue dog-earred accordion file for papers. An empty rainbow colored gift bag that once held a Valentine's Day treat is left out.

The walls are mostly bare, save a laminated year-at-a-glance calendar where he uses a magic marker to fill in performance dates, a poster from last year's show Popcorn and a thank you note or two. There are no personal mementos.

"This office is not what I'm about," he said.

Best advice he got: "It's important to keep working. The only thing that keeps us growing is to practice our craft. It's also the most difficult: There's only one director for each project - there aren't too many oportunities."

Best advice he'd give: "Maintain your vulnerability, despite the constant rejection. Without that, you become inured and stop growing. There are so many fallow periods when you are ready to give up. Know 'this too shall pass.' You must have the ability to believe. You are basically freelance. You can never relax, because you are looking for the next job."

Biggest influences: Orson Welles, John Cassavetes, Elia Kazan, Jean Renoir.

Biggest misconception: "That directors are control freaks. Really what directing theater is about is creating an environment where people are capable of doing their best work. It's much more about collaboration."

Biggest disappointment: "Coming to grips with the fact that I am not Orson Welles. I think everyone, when they start out, thinks they're name is going to become a household word."

Definition of success: "I'm not sure what success means. I think tenacity is enormously important. The most difficult thing in the world is resisting becoming embittered when things aren't going our way."