Our Mission
Deus X Machina makes plays with and about local communities in Washington State. We are theater artists who share a desire to connect people with people using plays as ways to share human experience and encourage community across barriers of race, age, income levels, and geographic location. We believe that all people are artists and theater can provide ways for everyone to create more beauty and meaning in their lives.
What we are--
DXM is a community-based theater. Using the methodology developed by Cornerstone Theater in Los Angeles and inspired by the work of the Colway Theatre Trust in England, we focus on communities rich in stories but poor in ways to tell those stories.
What we do--
- We identify a community somewhere in Washington State. These communities can be defined by geography, race, religion, shared experience, or even years spent on this planet.
- We conduct a lengthy series of soundings, of story circles, of listening sessions to get some idea of what moves the community, what they dream about, and what hardships they experience everyday.
- We write a new play or adapt a classic script with and about this specific community.
- We cast this play using as many of the community members as possible. We then rehearse and perform this play; working side by side with what are often first time performers from the community.
Why we are doing what we do--
We want to make plays with communities who have limited access to the arts. These are communities rich in stories, tradition, and heritage but often lacking in ways to tell the story of the past so as to shape their future. We want to be part of this giving voice to the community.