A PERFECT GANESH Comes to Theatricum in July

Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum continues its 50th anniversary repertory season with A Perfect Ganesh, the magical, poetic, Pulitzer Prize nominated play by Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally. Mary Jo DuPrey directs for a Saturday, July 15 opening on Theatricum’s beautiful outdoor stage in Topanga, where performances continue through October 7.

McNally’s play takes us from teeming Mumbai to the Chittaurgahr Pass, Jodhpur, the Ganges, the burning ghats of Varanasi and the Taj Mahal, as two upper-middle class friends from Connecticut (Ellen Geer and Melora Marshall) travel to India with heavy baggage in tow, reeling from loss and personal demons. Manifest in their fellow travelers (all played by Rajiv Shah), the benevolent, elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha (Mueen Jahan) is everyone and everywhere. Fluid in his power to assume any guise, at peace with all things, Ganesha — god of wisdom, prudence, acceptance, love and “remover of obstacles” — is the spiritual center around which the play spins, drawing upon the tragic and the comic, the beautiful and the deplorable, until a breathtaking release arrives for both women at his hands.

“Their journey is at once geographical and deeply internal as they wrestle with their failings as wives, mothers and friends,” explains DuPrey. “Through their journey, McNally incriminates the unforgiving prejudices, superficial values, emotional denials and cultural superiorities embedded in contemporary American culture that can lead to personal destruction if not tempered with insight, searing truth and compassion. At the same time, he humorously skewers the orientalist, colonialist stereotype of the Western ‘seeker’ finding solace in ‘trips to India,’ rather than simply facing themselves where they are.”

A Perfect Ganesh premiered at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 1993. Touching as it does on the nature of female friendship, racism, homophobia, trauma and loss, and our collective search for wholeness and authenticity in a chaotic world, it was a finalist for the 1994 Pulitzer Prize.

The Theatricum cast also includes dancers Simi Fulton, Emily-Mae Kamp and Liza Rash. The creative team features assistant director, choreographer and cultural consultant Shivani Thakkar; set and properties designer Ian Geatz; lighting designer Hayden Kirschbaum; sound designer Charles Glaudini; and costume designer Vicki Conrad. Karen Osborne is the production stage manager.

Considered one of America’s great playwrights, Terrence McNally (1938-2020) enjoyed a career that spanned six decades. Initially active in the burgeoning off-Broadway theater movement of the 1960s, he is one of the few playwrights of his generation to have successfully made the transition to Broadway, and, in the process, passed from avant-garde to mainstream acclaim. In addition to four Tony Awards, he received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller grant, and was a recipient of the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, the Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Tony Awards’ Lifetime Achievement in the Theater honor.

A Perfect Ganesh will run in repertory every weekend with Shakespeare’s Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Queen Margaret’s Version of Shakespeare’s War of the Roses, each of which open earlier in the season. Unlike most theaters in the L.A. area that stage continuous runs of a single play, Theatricum will perform all four plays in repertory, making it possible to see them all in one single summer weekend.

Other events taking place at Theatricum during this 50th anniversary season include comedy improv with Theatricum’s resident troupe, Off the Grid, at the end of each month (June 30, July 27, Aug. 31, Sept. 28); a 50th Anniversary Gala (Aug. 5); the annual Under the Oaks salon series on Fridays in September (Sept. 8 through Sept. 29); an Americana Harvest Festival that includes a special performance of The Woody Guthrie Story (Oct. 8); and the company’s annual Holiday Family Faire (Dec. 9).

Theatricum Botanicum has been named “One of the 50 Coolest Places in Los Angeles” by Buzz magazine, “One of Southern California's most beguiling theater experiences” by Sunset magazine, and “Best Theater in the Woods” by the LA Weekly. “The enchantment of a midsummer night at Theatricum Botanicum [makes it] crystal clear why audiences have been driving up into the hills since Theatricum’s maiden season way back in 1973. Summer Shakespeare doesn’t get any better than this,” writes StageSceneLA. Says Los Angeles magazine, “The amphitheater feels like a Lilliputian Hollywood Bowl, with pre-show picnics and puffy seat cushions, yet we were close enough to see the stitching on the performers costumes. Grab a blanket and a bottle and head for the hills.” In 2017, Theatricum was named “one of the best outdoor theaters around the world” by the Daily Beast.

Theatricum’s beginnings can be traced to the early 1950s when Will Geer, a victim of the McCarthy era Hollywood blacklist (before he became known as the beloved Grandpa on The Waltons), opened a theater for blacklisted actors and folk singers on his property in Topanga. Friends such as Ford Rainey, Della Reese, Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie joined him on the dirt stage for vigorous performances and inspired grassroots activism, while the audiences sat on railroad ties. Today, two outdoor amphitheaters are situated in the natural canyon ravine, where audiences are able to relax and enjoy the wilderness during an afternoon or evening's performance. Theatricum’s main stage amphitheater sports a new and improved sun shade for increased audience comfort, installed with support from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Ahmamson Foundation. Theatricum is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Margaret Harford Award for “sustained excellence,” which is the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle's highest honor.

A Perfect Ganesh opens on Saturday, July 15 at 7:30 p.m. and continues to run in repertory through October 7. A prologue (pre-show discussion) is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 10 from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Scroll all the way down or visit the website for a complete schedule of performances. Tickets range from $15 to $48. Premium seating is available for $60. Pay What You Will ticket pricing (cash only at the door) is available for the performances on Friday, Aug. 4 and Friday, Sept. 1.

Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum is located at 1419 North Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Topanga, midway between Malibu and the San Fernando Valley. The amphitheater is terraced into the hillside, so audience members are advised to dress casually (warmly for evenings) and bring cushions for bench seating. Patrons are welcome to arrive early to picnic in the gardens before a performance.
 

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