Dan Hurlin, writer, artist, dancer, teacher and creative genius behind numerous critically hailed puppet theatrical productions, will be the seventh and final speaker for the 70th season of the Amos Fortune Forum.
His topic, titled “Futurism, puppets and me. A personal look at the Italian Futurists,” will be presented on Friday, Aug. 19 at 8 p.m. at the Jaffrey Center Meetinghouse.
One of the first 20th-century art movements (1909) the Italian Futurists had no less an ambition than to “Reconstruct the Universe.” Characters like F.T. Marinetti, often called “the Caffeine of Europe,” and painters like Fortunato Depero brought their early machine age sensibility to everything — architecture, painting, poetry, music, cuisine, performance and even puppetry. Hurlin will take a look at the process of researching their work, making a terrific find, and then transforming historical concerns into contemporary art.
Hurlin teaches performance art, dance, and puppetry at Sarah Lawrence College, where he also serves as the director of the graduate program in theater. Twice a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, he is the recipient of a 2002 fellowship in choreography from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, a 2004 Alpert Award in the Arts for theater, the 2008 United States Artists Prudential Fellowship in theater, and the 2013-14 Jesse Howard Junior Rome Prize Fellowship in visual art at the American Academy in Rome. Hurlin’s theater and puppetry work has received the OBIE Award, the New York Dance and Performance Award, also known as a “Bessie”, and the UNIMA (Union Internationale de la Marionette) Citation of Excellence. He is best known locally for his creative work as a teaching artist with Andy’s Summer Playhouse in Wilton where he began Andy’s tradition of innovative theater performed by children.
The presentation is free but donations will be gratefully accepted.
Speaker suggestions for the 2017 Amos Fortune Forum are welcomed and may be emailed to questions@amosfortune.com.