'Before I decided to come here, I hired a medium, and through that medium, I asked Joe, like any good Jew would, 'Why me?' He said, 'It's because you have balls.' Every time I start spiraling, I try to center myself and allow myself to believe that I'm doing the right thing, and I'm doing what Joe would want me to do.' 'I don't think people have any idea how much pressure there is, especially in this particular situation,' Newport tells New Times. So when California-born, Connecticut-raised Bari Newport was offered the chance to take over for Joe Adler as producing artistic director of GableStage, she was understandably hesitant. It's a tightrope walk, especially here in Miami, where no matter how transient the population seems, hometown pride reigns supreme. There's the burden of appeasing, or at least not disappointing, his former colleagues.

Taking over for a visionary like Adler is an undertaking. He spoke to audiences of high school and college students, inspired countless Miami artists, and gave us all something intellectually stimulating to do in the evening. With Adler at its helm, GableStage supplied a city overrun with tourist traps its fix of challenging, honest, and affordable theater. During that time, he took a small theater attached to the haunting - and perhaps haunted - Biltmore Hotel and turned it into a formidable beacon for local creativity. For more than two decades, Adler worked tirelessly to build up a South Florida theater scene. When Joseph Adler died last year, Miami theatergoers were devastated.

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