A behind-the-scenes look at Deus Sex Machina

It’s Wednesday night at Route 196 on Katipunan Ave. The rain is torrential, but that doesn’t keep the performers and their audience away. Come 10:00, the bar is full, overflowing. Everyone is laughing loudly. Sometimes their shoulders shake and they clutch their stomachs, their faces contorted with disgust and embarrassment one moment, laughter and shrieking the next. What show could induce such extreme reactions?

Welcome to Deus Sex Machina.

In the beginning

As with many things that snowball beyond our wildest dreams, it all started as a joke. Marco Sumayao, one of DSM’s founders, shared their origin story. In a Facebook status, a friend raved about a movie, and reminisced about the fan fiction she used to write. Relentless teasing and joking ensued in the comments, and she was forced to admit, “YES IT WAS SEXY FANFIC.”

“That's where I stepped in,” Sumayao shares. “I'd been finding modern erotica hilarious as of late, and thought that it might be fun for a group of fellow writer-friends to get together, write stupid erotica, and read it to each other for laughs. The idea seemed to get some interest from people who were following the thread.”

Among those writer-friends were Paolo Jose Cruz, who said, “Let's make an event of it!” Fifteen minutes later, Cruz returned to the thread with, “Okay, I got UNO Morato for the venue.”

Sumayao gathered some friends in a Facebook group and, much to his own surprise, a live event was in the works. “Sayang din kasi yung venue,” he reasoned, “and I ended up being the, uh, prodder of people.”

The debut of DSM

That first show took place on October 5, 2014.

“We thought it would be our last show and we wouldn't have an audience to begin with,” Sumayao recalls.

The format was simple. “Eight pieces separated in [the middle] by an intermission. Themes drawn out of a hat (the challenge of not knowing your topic will be is half the fun). A host to smooth things out.”

They thought it was a risk. It could totally crash and burn. People might not even show up. “We were expecting, like, 30 people for a one-and-done show on a Sunday,” says Sumayao. “Then we ended up filling the venue way beyond capacity; we had to turn people away at the door because no one could fit anymore. That's when we all realized we might actually have stumbled upon something worthwhile!”

That first show had a diverse lineup. “We wrote about Kris Aquino, Prayers about Sex, Dr. Seuss, Super Sentai, the Vegetables in Bahay Kubo, a livejournal-style piece on heroes of the Philippines Revolution, some improv, and the Cthulhu Mythos by HP Lovecraft.”

Pioneers in comedic erotica

The original writers for DSM were just "a group of friends with a passion for writing and/or comedy," says Sumayao.

"We worked in various writing jobs, mostly freelance and unrewarding. I guess a lot of us were bored with the jobs that we were doing. On my part at least, it was a way to stay sane: if I wasn't getting paid well to write, I might as well write something fun on the side. It helps that a portion of the people involved with the first Deus had some background in TV or theater.”

Clearly they had struck a chord. People wanted in. “From that first event, our writing pool grew from word-of-mouth, mostly. Friends of friends heard about it and wanted to get in on the action. We started having guest readers on our third show, and a few of them wanted to write after reading for us. Audience members have also walked up to us and asked if they could join the troupe. We have a screening process for our writers and readers now, but we do still invite everyone to join the gang.”

Taboo

You’d think that in a show like DSM, nothing would be sacred. But, says Sumayao, “We do have very few guidelines for writing, but they're also very important.”

Sex positivity: “Number one is to maintain a sex-positive attitude. We realized later on that Deus could actually be a platform for breaking the taboos on sex through humor. We take away the fear of the topic by pointing out just how gross, sticky, smelly, and needlessly convoluted it can get. And it's awesome!

“The sex positivity also serves an internal purpose—protection of the writers. We understand that because of how poorly sex can be handled in our culture, reading an erotic piece to a live audience can be misconstrued as 'asking for it,' and that is a huge no-no. We hope to show that sex is something to be respected by maintaining it in a positive, open light. Also we dress up nicely for added respectability.”

Joke taboos: “What we restrict are the types of jokes made. No rape jokes, all sex acts must be consensual, no pedophilia. Bestiality was originally prohibited since animals can't give consent, but a writer recently worked around the idea by having his story work around the world of Tarzan, where animals speak and understand English and can go into sexual acts with full awareness and consent.”

Consent and choice: “We're not telling people they should be having more sex, just that they should be having the healthy kind when they choose to, and that they can have it in any which way turns them on. Yes, if you like whips or leather or, um, bathroom functions, it's perfectly cool as long as everyone involved is okay with it, too. The bottom line is to make sure all sexual relations presented are healthy, no matter how freaky the acts can get.”

Audience participation

Who goes to their shows? In a country that still professes to be conservative, how many people can say, with a straight face, “I’m going to a show that’s all about sex, and it’s not taking place in a girly bar”?

Sumayao gushes, “Our audience is amazing. They're open-minded and receptive to our kind of comedy, which can get pretty off-the-wall. They come from all walks of life, too. We have our talents' varied social circles to thank for that. While we attract a decent college and post-college crowd, we also see a lot of professionals and artists at our shows. Oh, and the occasional embarrassed mom or two.”

The next Deus Sex Machina is their anniversary show, at Sev’s Café on October 17. Stay tuned to their Facebook page for announcements. Unless they get excommunicated, or reported to Facebook for inappropriate content. (Because that actually happened.) — BM, GMA News