Salomania

Salome, a middle-aged woman, is caught in a relentless loop of her own story. She moves through repeating cycles with Herod, John the Baptist, and the Jester—a sinister, clown-like disruptor drawn from fin-de-siècle decadence. She alone can break the cycle, navigating a world that constantly surveils and evaluates.

Neurological impairment is the sinew of the characters' restless spin. Once those bodies fall under the watchful gaze of a regulating observer—be it character or audience—their motion is remapped, and fluid expression risks collapsing into the static stamp of pathology.

Blending shadowed theatricality and visceral movement with imagery from Salomé’s fevered past—from biblical figure to decadent icon—Salomania is not another retelling of an old story, but a dark meditation on spectacle, power, and a body that refuses to remain fixed.

Salomania was presented at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in May 2025 with support from the The Catwalk Institute.

By Meg Araneo

Creative Team: Tony Torn, David Skeist, Michael Mullen, Jess Applebaum, Edison Hong, and Meg Araneo.