The 70th year of the Amos Fortune Forum ended with a local artist discussing works that dare to imagine the future, and how they describe our present.
Dan Hurlin is a teaching artist at Andy’s Summer Playhouse in Wilton and a former fellow at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough. For the forum, he brought his presentation “Futurism, Puppets and Me: A personal look at the Italian futurists” to Jaffrey.
He described the futurist works he researched and staged as having a “terribly violent, but extremely playful mood.”
“Puppets and violence are made for each other,” he said. “A puppet can be decapitated on stage and with very little first aid be ready for the evening show.”
The plays in his collection, “Demolishing Everything at Amazing Speed” performed in Bunrako puppetry style, were written by Fortunato Depero in 1917. He said their violence comes from the writer’s experience of the time, especially World War I.
Hurlin felt that the violence in Depero’s world is still around today. He noted that several milestone dates for the show, like the debut and finale performances, occurred on the days of terrible contemporary events: the night club shooting in Orlando, the shootings of Alton Sterling and Phelando Castile, attacks on police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge.
Of himself and his presentation, he joked about what the audience must be thinking: “He started so funny and exciting but ended in such a dark place.”
What the futurists said about the early 20th century was that it was infected with violence and fear. Hurlin finished by saying, “We are all still infected by the same virus.”
Brandon Latham can be reached at 924-7172, ext. 228.