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On-campus theater group Teatro Revolver performs its show, “Circuses without Bread,”

Teatro Revolver’s production, “Circuses without Bread,” features a giant, a hairy woman and a spoof of “American Idol.” Oh, and it also grapples with themes of racism, feminism and homosexuality.

If all this sounds like an intense hodgepodge of theatrical interests, fear not. Teatro Revolver promises an evening of physical, interactive entertainment with a message.

Adrian Acosta, a third-year theater student, and Estela Garcia, a fourth-year Chicana/o studies student, wrote and directed the play, which premiered last weekend and closes on May 23 at the Northwest Campus Auditorium. The play has already gained a semi-cult following.

“The response we’ve been getting has been (overwhelming). People sit in the aisles, they come to every single show; we have groupies, because the show has meaning and it’s fun,” Garcia said. “It’s a roller coaster of emotions.”

According to Acosta and Garcia, people appreciate the play because it dares to discuss societal problems that are usually glossed over. Unlike culture club and theater department productions that host a show every year, Acosta started Teatro Revolver last year specifically to produce “Circuses without Bread.”

Last year, Acosta read an article by James Petras that compared modern-day media to the circuses of ancient Rome, where audiences were given bread with their entertainment.

“In our current situation, we get circuses without bread. We just get a lot of entertainment and that’s it. We’re very distracted with everything else, and we do not focus on what’s important,” Acosta said. “I wanted to flip it and use a circus, something that is funny, entertaining and sexy, to bring out actual issues.”

With the circus as his foundation, Acosta dreamed up a crew of circus characters that included a giant dealing with bisexuality, a hairy woman shedding light on feminism, and a child performing a spoken word piece about the flawed education system. Eventually a corporation invests in the circus, bringing out conflicts among the characters.

“Once the corporation starts investing money into them, the people start to be pitted against each other,” Acosta said. “People start feeling pressured to do a new type of show that is less empowering, and the politics are taken out of the play.”

When he conceived the idea last year, Acosta only had one month and $500 to put together a production. He managed to write a compelling story that had audiences clamoring for more this year. Garcia was an actress in last year’s preliminary production, and directed and rewrote the script with Acosta this year.

While Acosta is a theater student, Garcia and most of the rest of the cast are not. Many members of the cast met in Chicana/o studies classes and share an interest in the Chicano theater movement,

“Chicano theater is theater with a message. It is street theater, very physical, and they use a lot of comedy. There is a lot of interaction with the crowd,” Garcia said.

“Circuses without Bread,” follows these conventions and never shies away from provocative topics.

“It is very in-your-face, very controversial stuff. When people first saw it, they were shocked, and it sparked flares. I guess we get so used to what we are doing, we forget we are the only ones touching on these subjects,” Garcia said.

Reactions have been so positive that the group is currently discussing taking it to other venues in San Diego and San Francisco. Not bad for someone who read an inspirational article last year.

“It is very surreal,” Acosta said. “A lot of people are going through similar emotional situations. This comes out of both happy and painful experiences, and (I’ve) been able to put them in a play and see how people are touched by it. If you take the initiative to create something, and you are honest with it, it touches people.”