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.”