Cooking up A PERFECT GANESH with Crist and Janiszewski

Trish Crist and Jaime Janiszewski should be artist's models: Crist, tall and titian-tressed, has a visage of timeless, classic beauty - she easily could have been the inspiration for all those towering statues of womanhood signifying liberty, freedom, fraternity, fidelity and all manner of other lofty aspirations. Janiszewski, softer and curvier, with an open face that always seems like it is about to break into an all-the-world-encompassing smile, could easily have posed for all of the world's great portrait painters of past and future centuries.

But instead of inspiring artists (though, certainly, they might be doing that as well), they are creating art themselves, this weekend opening in Rhubarb Theater Company's production of Terrence McNally's A Perfect Ganesh, the story of two friends on a journey of self-discovery that is filled with many laughs and obvious introspection.

Directed by Paul J. Cook, one of Nashville's most respected directors (and clearly one of its most in-demand), A Perfect Ganesh also features Christopher Bosen, playing the role of the Hindu god Ganesha - thanks to the mask-making artistry of Melissa Bedinger Hade - who serves as the tour guide for the two women on their holiday. Bosen is joined by Wilhelm Peters (both men appeared together last year in Street Theatre Company's Six Degrees of Separation and have achieved critical acclaim for a variety of previous onstage appearances) as "The Man," playing all the other characters in the piece.

"This is literally the most beautiful script I have ever read," Crist enthuses. "I identify completely with both women characters - their humor, their struggles, their seemingly-cushy life, their desire to find something (they're not sure what) by traveling."

Janiszewski agrees: "This is a great script and there is a never-ending supply of color, life, tragedy, humor, stereotypes, hypocrisy and so much more than having a director who empowered us to seek those things out and think outside the box while staying true to the intention of the playwright was exhilarating."

Cook, according to Janiszewski, "has done a fantastic job of facilitating an environment of discovery and openness. We were able to ask the questions that came to mind for our characters, but also to ask each other difficult questions that has made this a very deep process."

For Crist, that process began almost immediately upon reading the script for the first time. "When I first read Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams by Sylvia Plath about 20 years ago, her words and humor (she was very witty) were so innate to me that they felt like my own. That was the first time I read someone else's work that felt like I had written it myself," she explains. "With A Perfect Ganesh, the feeling is similar to me - not so much that the words are my own, but that the feelings and intimate aspects of these women are mine. That's a rare experience and an exceptionally rewarding one to find as an actor."

That's high praise indeed coming from a woman who has made a name for herself in local theater circles with her original works (including The Nashville Monologues, Potty Talk and 41) that have been the centerpieces of Rhubarb's past several seasons.

The themes explored in A Perfect Ganesh is what sets it apart from other plays (not to mention McNally's words, of course) and may well be what compels audiences to experience the play, Janiszewski suggests.

"Allow. Accept. Be. That is a theme throughout the play, but it means something so different to each character, which also stems from what that means to each actor," she says. "I think we all hope that we are tolerant and loving, but we are colored by stereotypes and fears that most of the time are irrational. This makes us human, but the curiosity and desire to see things a different way lead us to make mistakes and discoveries that, hopefully, help us to grow. Staying exactly the same, not being open to perspective and understanding is a tragedy in my eyes. Some people are averse to change and others are open to it, but it is an inevitability. These women seek out an experience for their own personal reasons...the journey is fascinating."

Crist, on the other hand - while agreeing wholeheartedly with her cohort (we assume, since we didn't really ask, but we don't want to cause any problems on opening day of opening night) - maintains that what audiences shouldn't miss is the production's concept of Ganesha, or Ganesh.

"We've been pretty secretive about the Ganesha (also called Ganesh) character - Ganesha is the Hindu god considered to be the Remover of Obstacles," she explains. "I'm sure you've seen his image in books and movies, or at the very least in statues of him at TJ Maxx [editor's note: Or on the most recent episode of CBS' The Amazing Race, in which competitors painted and dressed a statue of Ganesha...but we digress]. He's the god with the elephant head. And we promise to deliver just that, thanks to the artistry of Melissa Bedinger Hade. Ganesha serves as a guide for our two women characters in a very special way."

Conspiratorially, Hade offered in hushed tones in a brief telephone conversation that from what she's seen onstage from her offstage perspective: "It's going to be a really wonderful show, with a lot of laughs."

Crist's comments seem to lend credibility to Hade's observation. "I truly find the banter between the women best friends to be burst-out-loud hilarious. Their snipes and jabs and jokes are absolutely genuine and the way my real-life best friend and I have communicated for years. It is a joy to honor that kind of sisterhood/friendship through theater," she contends.

Janiszewski concurs: "We are all so different; we handle tragedy and triumph in vastly opposing ways - if we lose someone, have a great experience, or any number of life things happen, the journey is always ugly as well as beautiful, and watching and exploring that inspires me."

You may find yourself inspired as Rhubarb Theater Company presents A Perfect Ganesh by Terrence McNally at Nashville's Darkhorse Theater, April 8-23. For tickets, call (615) 397-7820 or by email at rhubarbnashville@gmail.com.

pictured: Jaime Janiszewski and Trish Crist/photo by Anthony Scarlati

To post a comment, you must register and login.