A full moon and the eerie glow of a streetlight set the mood for 999 EYES Authentic Human Freak Show at the Trunk Space in Phoenix Wednesday night.

About 12 traveling performers with genetic human anomalies piled out of a normal white van and into a freak-filled night of Vaudeville performance. The show is the world's only freak show to exhibit more than one human anomaly as the star of the show, the performers said.

Seats filled quickly in front of the patchwork stage. Despite a two-hour delay due to traffic in Los Angeles, the freaks performed for a large and diverse audience.

"They like to make sure it's understood that they are not being exploited by their performance,” Trunk Space co-owner JRC said. "This show is put together by the freaks and run by the freaks."

Samantha X, a performer and the show’s media coordinator, said the show came together four years ago, attracting members along the way.

"We were traveling and building the freak show at the same time," she said. "We were gathering people as we go."

Samantha said the show has played at the Trunk Space twice before. Normally the freaks put on multiple shows to accommodate for both the many people who come out and the Trunk Space's limited room for an audience.

"We love to play in small community arts spaces if it's possible," Samantha said.

Wednesday's show took place outside the venue, sacrificing warmth for more space and a freaky atmosphere.

"It's a variety show backed by music, with the stars of the show being genetic anomalies who perform thereby creating the title ‘freak,’ Samantha X said. "It's been an interesting plight to form and grow a freak show. We have no [predecessors] to model ourselves after."

Jackie the Human Tripod joined the group three and a half years ago after hearing about it on a college radio station in Oregon. Due to a birth defect, she appears to have three legs.

"I was kind of like jokingly 'Oh, I should join it,'" she said. "I went down there the next day and joined. We left four days later on a two-month tour."

JRC said the show's repeated visits have built a friendship.

"We know what they do,” he said. “We know the style of show that they do. We know the requirements. So it's easy for us to help them out at this point.”

JRC and co-owner Stephanie Carrico started their venue as a place for experimental artists, like the freak show.

"We tend to think of ourselves as an avant-garde and experimental space," JRC said. “It can be a mix of things like simple folk acts or rock bands, but more often than not it will be some kind of experimental noise or performance art or Vaudeville-related stuff."

Before the Trunk Space, JRC and Carrico worked at the music venue The Paper Heart. Originally a large warehouse space, the venue moved to become a bar, and JRC and Carrico left to embark on their own venture.

"We wanted to continue to be an all-ages space," JRC said. "We also wanted to work on a smaller scale."

Since its beginning four years ago, JRC said the Trunk Space has tried to promote as much local culture as possible. All out-of-town performers are paired with a local component, he said.

For the freak show, local sideshow act The Strange Family Circus fulfilled the role by performing contortions and magic tricks before the freaks.

THAT Damned Band, the Eastern European circus-based musical component of the show, added to the Vaudeville spirit with a classic arrangement of accordion, clarinet, fiddle, base, banjo and percussion.

“[The band] is kind of it’s own character in the show,” Samantha X said. “I think we’re moving the show toward a pretty phenomenal [place], and I think over the next few years the show will get better and better.”

Reach the reporter at channing.turner@asu.edu.