June 19, 202414:51
Hear
“We have been rehearsing since January. There was no option because the texts have a deep poetics. We worked hard to find a way.” With that seriousness the actor took Emiliano Kaczka his new project, the work Only mists, of Tato Pavlovskywhich premiered at the beginning of June and which is presented every Friday at the Belisario Theater. Directed by Gonzalo Urtizberea, focuses on the dialogues and intersections of three figures who carry out macabre work. “The piece belongs to an exciting and complicated genre: the absurd, which talks about the meaninglessness of life. In this case, they are people in a no place trying to recover their dignity,” explains Kaczka.
Kaczka seems to be in a good mood, relieved after the logical nerves that this double challenge involved: returning to do theater after 15 years and getting fully immersed in the thickness of a work written by Pavlovsky. In a cafe in Belgrano, the boy who was the star of iconic fiction series hair and Treble clef, who trained in television studios, who retains a certain youthful air with which he became famous – very similar to his younger brother, Guido Kaczka–, who loves literature and publishes stories on the web and who for a few years took a break from acting to dedicate himself to law, He confesses that he was afraid of such a challenge, but that his castmates were essential in moving forward. “Vertigo came over me. At some point in rehearsals I had that feeling of not being able to do it. There Victoria Aragón, Paula Cantone, Gonzalo Urtizberea and Guillermo Alfaro helped me a lot. “We came together as a work team.”
In reality, this return to acting began to take shape a few years ago in the middle of the pandemic, when he saw the series The Kominsky method, in which Michael Douglas He plays a retired actor who makes his living as an acting teacher, but who decides to return to his old vocation. That was the trigger to try again. And so proposals began to arise to participate in TV series: first they called him to María Marta: the country crimethen he was in The mufas and in The taste of silence and now he awaits the premiere of another strip in which he was part of the cast.
“Since I was a child, I was very lucky to be part of successful programs,” he analyzes with a retrospective look at his own history as an actor. “On this return, one thing led to another: the public received me well, journalism was interested, something nice was generated. I didn’t think it was going to be like this, it surprised me. I’m enjoying it, I have job proposals. At 52 years old, it is fulfilling a dream again”.
His start in acting dates back to 1982. It was an early jump to popularity in the analog era, when there was no cable or Internet and the only television offering consisted of five over-the-air channels. Color TV was still competing with black and white TV, which was already in decline, and you had to be a magician to tune in to the channels by moving your home antenna. Into this panorama, Emiliano Kaczka burst in: at only 10 years old, he joined hair.
Strictly speaking, the children’s strip was a hotbed of actors where they also appeared Adrián Suar, Julián Weich, Gustavo Bermúdez, Pepe Monje and a boom television wherever you look at it for the generation that today is around 50 years old and that back then had a snack watching the program. There Emiliano played Jorge, the boy who wins the neighborhood athletics race in the opening. Later he became even more famous as Rolo in the strip Treble clef, written by Jorge Maestro and Sergio Vainman, which spoke about the adolescent problems of the time, along with another group of actors: Pablo Rago, Leo Sbaraglia, Cecilia Dopazo, Federico D’Elía and Viviana Saccone.
“At that time, everything was very new. We were coming out of the dictatorship, we were in full democratic effervescence. In a chapter of hair We were slow dancing when suddenly the parents appeared. One of the boys exclaimed: ‘The expired ones have arrived!’ It was strong for the time. I remember that a magazine headlined: ‘No censorship, but neither is this’ and there was a stir.”
–How do you see, in perspective, having started on TV at such a young age?
–My balance is positive. I am grateful to have belonged to programs that were milestones on television, that people continue to remember them. There was also a bond with the boys that was not as sensitive as today, there were ways that were sometimes poorly maintained, but that had to do with the time.
–What are you referring to specifically?
–There was not so much contemplation with the fact that we were kids, as it was our responsibility to have gotten into a workplace. Today, much more care is taken about this, they even ask for a medical and psychological examination, children are much more contained. That’s one of the things that changed.
-Dresses Parcheesi: the documentary? There we speak directly of exploitation.
–Yes, Los Parchís was an extreme case. I saw it. There is a moment in which the red-haired boy (Frank Díaz), as an adult, says: when you pass by there, you don’t see life the same later. I identify with those words. In that thing of being observed and celebrated there is something that cannot be found again and that remains in one.
–Did you do therapy?
–I did therapy because I wanted to and needed it, but not because of a childhood trauma. I had a good time and enjoyed it. I’m just saying that experience has some rockstar. It is very particular.
–What suggestion would you make to a father with a young son who wants to be an actor?
–If your son has the desire, let him accompany him, logically. Let him take care of him and teach the boy that he is also going to have to give up things. A father has to be very clear in these aspects. I missed the trips for primary and secondary school graduates. You think it’s something minor, but when I was a kid and saw the bus leaving, I felt my heart sink.
–What was a day in your life like?
–When I was a child, my family lived in Moreno. I did primary school at School 38 in the morning. Afterwards, my parents accompanied me to the Channel 13 studios: the train to Once station and from there to Line 98 to Constitución. We recorded in the afternoon for six hours, but it was not possible by agreement. In the summer we spent time in Mar del Plata.
–Were the salaries paid on TV at that time important?
-No not at all. There was a basic agreement. It was the minimum, which could be a more or less good salary today. I wasn’t saved (laughs).
–It was like in football at that time, where not even the stars made their fortunes.
-Clear. The actor only made money in the 90s. At that time the channels were privatized, there was a lot of competition and salaries became very good. I was able to buy my apartment with the strips I did in that decade on Channel 9.
–Did you get together again with the boys from hair and Treble clef?
–A few years ago we met again with the cast of Treble clef at[person]’s house Gloria Fichera and also in the Pablo Rago. With the boys of hair We always say about getting together. It happens to us a bit like with our high school classmates, the desire is there, but then the circumstances don’t work out.
–Your brother Guido Kaczka also started acting as a boy in the 80s. Did his success as a television host benefit you?
–I believe that beyond these successful programs for which people remember me, the fact that he had a great career sustained my validity. We look alike physically, they identify us, but the only thing we did together was Treble clef and an episode of the series The baby sitters club. Furthermore, we get along well, we chat, he is a person I listen to, he has many views on the environment.
After being a child prodigy in the beginning, Emiliano continued to be closely linked to television: he was part of the cycles Gift from heaven, Manuela, High comedy, The baby sitters club, Only for couples, The older sister, Rich and famouswhile studying Law. With the storm of the 2001 crisis and job instability, he decided to accelerate his career to graduate as a lawyer and dedicate himself to that profession.although he continued to be more connected to the medium for a while, even in the theater (Penis confessions) and in the cinema (He played Jorge Cyterszpiler in the Italian film The hand of God).
During the years in which he remained away from the screen, the other passion appeared that kept him spiritually occupied: writing. He began to investigate in Sergio Olguín’s workshop and then attended the group of Liliana Heker. “She accepted me to enter. It was very comforting to listen to her, read her, write and learn from her feedback, she gave me another look at the artistic.” On the blog Vicio despuntado (viciodespuntado.blogspot.com) you can read stories and short stories by Emiliano, and he has more unpublished material: a novel that he hopes to finish one day. It addresses the story of a man who begins acting from a young age.
–Is this an autobiographical book?
–I took as a starting point some situations that I went through, but it is not about my life. At the time, in the meetings with Heker, I read three chapters and he liked it a lot. The truth: I got to chapter 12, I didn’t see the end and that stopped me. Maybe another literature workshop can help me finish it.
–Has literature been important?
–I am always reading, although I am a slow reader, I like to go deeper. The books helped me a lot and made me see my own areas. In the pandemic it was of great help, almost a lifeline.
–And how are you experiencing this return to acting?
-I’m having fun. I feel bigger and I enjoy what happens to me. Furthermore, having this opportunity, after so many years and at this age, is special.
Only mists, by Tato Pavlovsky. Performances: Friday, at 10 p.m., Teatro Belisario (Avenida Corrientes 1624).
