Ganesh, played by well-padded, bronze-faced Bill Yule, is the quixotic, whimsical, comic, sly god and guide for two American women who visit India on a traditional Western search for self-revelation.

Although audiences may have been unaware of it, the opening of Terrence McNally’s “A Perfect Ganesh” at Arena Stage neatly coincided with the Indian festival celebrating the Hindu god, Ganesh.