Salomania takes as its starting point the archetype of Salome—the New Testament figure who in exchange for a dance before her lustful stepfather King Herod asks for and receives the head of John the Baptist. Salome took on a decadent, secular life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Salomania engages this decadent (some called degenerate) version of Salome for how she embodies narratives relating to gender, aging, and disability.

This theatrical performance piece is born out of Meg Araneo’s scholarly research into late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century cultural infatuations with the archetype of the biblical dancing girl. A devised work, the Salome Project considers the figure of the dancing girl as a cultural location where social and political ideas of a specific historical context can be actively explored through text, music, and dance. 

This cross-disciplinary performance project meditates on key issues facing the United States today, including voting rights, economic inequality, and racial injustice. Co-created by Rob Reddy, Oliver Lake, and Meg Araneo, INTERRUPTION! was inspired by a July 2015 sermon by the esteemed Bishop William Barber II. INTERRUPTION! directly engages Barber's powerful call to action through its dramaturgical integration of Rob Reddy's compositions with a libretto by Oliver Lake. The piece will be presented at BRIClab April 13 and 14. It received support from the MAP fund as well as BRIC Media Arts.

A radio play version of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi will be presented on January 19, 2017 at The Cell Theatre in New York, NY. The project is a collective response to the ideologies and tactics of the incoming administration. This production of Ubu Roi is an act of political protest not against the legitimacy of the election but against the discourse of hatred, misogyny, racism, xenophobia, and sexual violence that the president-elect and his advisors have been advancing throughout their campaign and transition process. The performance will be followed by a discussion about the current political climate and how to ensure the core values of our democracy remain in tact.

[This page is still under construction.]