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After a career teaching high-school theater in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and 40 years working in other people's theaters, Joe Nierle knew two things.

He wanted to move South and he wanted his own theater.

And he was ready to bank his retirement account on it.

A few months later, Nierle had a home in Summerfield and Greensboro had the Open Space Cafe Theatre, which marked its anniversary in March.

He reflected on his first year recently in his cramped office, over the steady "ping" of a tuner readying a piano for "Godspell," which opens June 12.

Nierle is proud of this cozy theater, which seats 70, mostly satisfied with the 14 shows he's staged and feels he's finding an audience.

His first show, "Nunsense A-men!," "sold pretty well and got us attention."

It's hard not to get attention with guys frolicking in habits in the drag version of the off-Broadway mega hit about wayward nuns, tainted vichyssoise and corpses in a convent freezer.

Alert theatergoers sensed something afoot at Open Space, where offbeat shows ("Parallel Lives," "Almost Maine") feed the theater's soul and predictable fare ("The Fantasticks," "Godspell" ) pays the bills.

Nierle is glad he chose Greensboro over Chapel Hill, his first choice. Further research showed the Triangle theater market was already standing-room only.

So, he took another look at Greensboro, where his brother lives. The city was growing, arts friendly and seemed able to support a theater offering something new.

At first, he had a dreamy concept, "kind of a 'build it, they will come thing,'" he said. But soon after moving here he was scanning real-estate ads and making contacts.

He found his theater on West Market Street; it just didn't look like a theater. For about 15 years, the building had been an Asian grocery store, and before that, a window-treatment shop.

But the "shoebox" held promise. A few months later those nuns were onstage.

The bridges Nierle built with local theaters paid off. Students from UNCG and N.C. A&T "jumped on board right away."

Eight more shows followed through the close of the theater's first season last December, with four more so far in 2008.

After "Godspell" come yet another four, including the regional premiere of the English musical hit "Blood Brothers." With casts of 12, the two musicals are the theater's biggest shows yet.

Nierle pays actors ("pretty well the first year; this year it's more of a stipend"). He shares assignments with guest directors but he keeps an exhausting pace.

He staged five plays last year, two so far this year and also wrote April's "The Nebula of Georgia."

He's especially proud of Open Space's "Parallel Lives" and "Crimes of the Heart."

"I can think of many (shows) that really had the 'wow factor' and the total package looked good."

There were two shows, which he didn't name, he wishes had been better. But he feels, overall, quality has been high, especially considering theater's limited means. "With what we have," he said, "we do a good job."

"Crimes," "Deathtrap" and "Nebula," a surprise sell-out, were audience favorites. A few shows flopped. The worst was the weepy "Tuesdays With Morrie."

The biggest challenges in keeping the theater running?

"Money and money," he said. Operating his "shoebox" often means working on a shoestring.

This year, Open Space went nonprofit and formed a board to help with fundraising. It seeks new income by renting space to other companies. Music events are planned to bring in money and raise awareness.

"So many people still haven't heard of us," he said.

Still, the theater, he said, is slowly finding its niche. Nierle concedes it's difficult vying with the more-established theaters.

"I see it," he said, "as the Broach (Theatre), us and Triad Stage, and I think we all do have our identities and personalities."

Jim Shertzer is a freelance contributor. Contact him at j.shertzer@hotmail.com.