After The Garden is Train Wreck Theater, but very much intentionally so.

After all, look at the subject matter. We’ve got a one-man show, which is a recreation of an actual, historic one-woman show, and that woman is a beloved eccentric known for her unabashed lack of modesty, her years of living in squalor, her dysfunctional relationship with her mother. It’s Little Edie Beale, familiar to anyone who’s experienced the Grey Gardens documentary, or the musical based on it (or the movie written ABOUT the musical adaptation…the list goes on).

Unfortunately, if this is a person’s first introduction to the Grey Garden phenomenon, they’re probably going to be a little confused. After the Garden is awash with inside jokes, and without context, Beale’s behavior is merely inexplicably awkward. Not to mention that a typical theatergoer probably isn’t too eager to attend a cabaret show where the singing’s mediocre at best (even if that’s historically accurate) and the costumes are bizarrely makeshift (again, purposefully).

Luckily, it’s pretty unlikely that the Edie-uninitiated is flocking to After The Gardens. This is the inaugural production of Ganymede Arts (formerly Actors’ Theater of Washington), the GLTB arts company that’s been absent from the stage since it renamed itself and changed its mission. After The Garden is a reminder of how much we’ve missed their presence on the scene, from their unconventional choices of work to the talent of artistic director Jeffrey Johnson, who stars in After The Garden. Opening night of the show seemed packed with Ganymede devotees — who certainly knew their Edie, and seemed happy to see her personified.