Salomania June 27, 2012

While directing Oscar Wilde's fascinating and sensual play Salome at Aurora in 2006, Mark Jackson discovered the extraordinary story of dancer Maud Allan, a San Francisco native who took Europe by storm in the early 1900's with her version of the 'Dance of the Seven Veils.' She became notoriously known as 'The Salome Dancer,' and was unexpectedly confronted with a lawsuit that destroyed her career. Whereas Salome was Oscar Wilde's wild take on the infamous Biblical temptress, Salomania uses Allan's story as a framework to explore themes of media sensationalism, freedom of expression and wartime hysteria - themes as relevant today as they were a century ago.