For those in the mood for daring live theatre, the Book-It Repertory Theatre’s production of “Even Cowgirls Get The Blues” fills the niche for theatre that still pushes the envelope.

Based on the 1976 Tom Robbins novel, “Cowgirls” follows the hitchhiking travels of Sissy Hankshaw and all the vibrant characters she finds along the way.

Blessed with abnormally large thumbs from birth, Sissy is “the one great passenger” for all the great drivers in the world. From New York City to North Dakota, Sissy roams earning money when she needs it by modeling for The Countess (Brian Thompson), a transvestite tycoon of vaginal perfumes. It’s The Countess who steers Sissy towards Julian (Chris Maslen) a full blooded Indian, though he doesn’t look it. Here, Sissy faces her first real dilemma. She’s enchanted with the freedom the American Indian represents, but her own personal Indian becomes a shut in, unwilling to show Sissy’s huge thumbs in public. Through the rest of the play, Sissy continues to fight for her right to live the way she wants, despite all efforts to get her to conform.

Dissatisfied with her life, Sissy again turns to the Countess who sends her west to the Rubber Rose Ranch, and there Sissy is introduced to Bonanza Jellybean (Hilary Pickles), Delores Del Ruby (Marissa Price), and the rest of the girls who run the largest all-women ranch in the whole nation. There, the women are free to express their sexuality any way they see fit, which includes an amazing endorsement of au-natural perfume. And it isn’t long before Sissy finds herself drawn to the mysterious man at the top of the mountain, The Chink (Wesley Rice), who’s supposed enlightenment both draws and repels many.

Oh, and I almost left out one more essential element of the production, the irreplaceable Jo Miller, who plays Dr.Robbins/Narrator. Miller guides the whole production along with musical accompaniment, narration, and occasional dialogue. She’s a handy and supportive structural device that manages to break the fourth wall but not be distracting.

What makes the play unimaginably exciting is the sheer bravado with which it tackles feminism. Set in 1950-1970, the play operates within a sphere where women are more overtly socially oppressed. To combat that, the women of the Rubber Rose go to the absolute extreme in one of the most daring pieces of theatre I never dreamed of seeing.

All of the actors prove themselves capable of the work, although Maslen’s Julian is handed a short shrift in the script, which means he doesn’t have much to work with. However, this play doesn’t want to focus on men, it wants to focus on freedom. The crew that rounds out the ranch hands each plays into a certain stereotype – there’s the hippie chick, the tough girl, the religious nut, the dimwitted one – but the actresses are not all uniformly young and athletic. They come in all shapes and sizes, and the director (Russ Banham) is not afraid to show the audience every variety of the female form.

The set at the Central House Theatre is a functional conglomeration of Americana kitsch and western-ware, but the production is set to travel to Kirkland and Tacoma in the next few weeks, so the glorious set might be re-adjusted.

What to take definite notice of though, is the tone of the play. The actors and director are willing drop their drawers and have full frontal female nudity on stage (still shocking 30 years after the book was written) but manage to hesitate when confronting the heavier themes of freedom near the end. As a result, the first act is noticeably stronger than the second. Part of the problem may come from the adaption, which has been modified from Robbin’s original 400+ page tome to a manageable script by Jennifer Sue Johnson.

A friend of mine who worked on the production and had to read to the book described it as “a 1000 times more insane” than what I witnessed on stage. It’s likely then that to preserve some sort of coherent narrative (which was already very loose on stage), some of the more interesting diatribes had to be cut from the production.

Worth every dime you spend on it, “Even Cowgirls Get The Blues” is loaded with adult material from full front nudity, and course language, to simulated sex, and brief audience participation. The play runs through Oct. 12 at the Book-It Repertory Theatre, and will travel to Tacoma Oct. 17-26^th.

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