Joseph Adler (October 5, 1940 – April 16, 2020) served twenty seasons at GableStage.

His career has included directing at many South Florida Theatres; The Coconut Grove Playhouse, New Theatre, Area Stage, Hollywood Boulevard Theatre, Players Theatre, Ruth Foreman Theatre, Florida Shakespeare Theatre, City Theatre, Hollywood Playhouse and Shores Performing Arts. Active in South Florida’s film/theater community, Adler directed hundreds of television commercials and industrial films – winning many awards, including the Clio. Other directorial credits include several independent feature films, a video version of the Broadway hit comedy Doubles and a cable TV series.

Since he became Producing Artistic Director, GableStage has been the recipient of 64 Carbonell Awards and 227 Carbonell Nominations. Adler has been nominated twenty-five times (nineteen at GableStage) and eleven times won the Carbonell Award for Best Director: The Shadow Box (Coconut Grove Playhouse); The Killing of Sister George (Players Theatre); A Lesson Before Dying, Edward Albee’s The Goat, Frozen, The Pillowman, Lieutenant of Inishmore, Speed-the-Plow, Blasted and Ruined and The Royale (GableStage), and twice for Best Director of a Musical: James Joyce’s The Dead and Adding Machine (GableStage).

Adler was awarded the prestigious George Abbott Award for “significant contributions to the artistic life and cultural development of greater Miami, Fort Lauderdale and the Palm Beaches.” He has received many Best Director awards (CurtainUp, SunPost, NewTimes) and a Remy Award from the Theatre League of South Florida, as well as The Heart of the Arts Award presented by New World School of the Arts. He was awarded the Arts and Entertainment Community Service Award presented by the South Florida International Press Club, and the Truth Award from the Human Services Coalition. He received a Silver Palm Award for his “Outstanding Support of the South Florida Theatre Community, the Theatre League and the Theatre Festival, as well as his Consistent Outstanding Work at GableStage and his Commitment to an Educational Outreach Program in Miami-Dade County”.

He was awarded the Citizens Interested in Arts 2016 Champion of the Arts Award, was appointed to the Dean’s Leadership Advisory Board at Florida International University’s College of Architecture + The Arts and recently was honored with the 2017 ACLU Lifetime Achievement Award. Adler studied drama at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and graduated from the Film Department at NYU.

Obituaries:
AmericanTheatre.org
Miami Herald
Miami New Times
Legacy.com