Cacho Gallegos, the story of a journey of life
His charisma, simplicity and passion make Carlos an extraordinary man.
Carlos Rafael Gallegos Astudillo, better known as Cacho Gallegos, is a Cuenca actor who decided to return from his life "a trip".
Invited by the University of Azuay to direct a clown play carried out by the University Theater Company, which dealt with the issue of gender violence, the UDA students had the opportunity to learn more about him.
Nicknamed Cacho by his uncle, he is the youngest of three brothers, son of Galo Gallegos and Adelina Astudillo, both university professors.
Art was always present in the life of Cacho, remember that from a very young his parents took him to plays, which little by little they went into his memory.
He still remembers the first show he went to: "I remember it was a pampering show of the play Pájara Pinta by Felipe Vega, I do not remember well, but according to my parents they took me on stage to participate".
His childhood was full of puppet shows presented by his mother and his aunt on every birthday. However, painting was his passion; in fact, Carlos believed that his future was to be a painter or designer.
When he finished school he wanted to take plastic art workshops offered by the Casa de la Cultura by June of 1996, to enter the world of painting, but when he went to register the quotas for drawing were finished, there was only one space for theater and by chance of life the secretary convinced him to register, without imagining that it would change his life.
That year he studied in the morning Design and in the afternoons he attended the theater course, but a year after having started his university studies he decided that Design as such was not his thing, and so he dedicated himself completely to what he had in love during that time.
So it was that along with Felipe Serrano, Pancho Aguirre and Choquilla Durán, his passion began to grow, until today being an important Ecuadorian exponent of this art.
When he finished them, he decided to create a project called "Around the world in 80 months", which would take him to travel during seven years of his life around the world and to act in the 5 continents; a trip that he says, he had no return.
At first Carlos was hard to travel alone to other places far from our country, but later he got used to it and liked the solitude and the fact of not needing someone.
On his long journey around the world, he had the opportunity to study theater in France, where he would meet his wife and with whom he now has three children.
Love is the pillar of his life and for Cacho, "loving helps you endure all the bad things in life"; his wife and children are everything to him, that is why Carlos always seeks the welfare of his family.
With a smile on his face Carlos says that every time he is acting in a play, he imagines that in the middle of the audience his son is looking at him; That gives him strength to give his best on stage.
He always seeks to tell stories in the most artistic way whether in theater, writing, mime or directing.
"Whether it's a big or small theater, with three or two people, they deserve to give me the best of me," said Carlos.
The first monologue in which he participated was Macario, based on the book by Juan Rulfo, which brings him good memories and which he considers to be the most special work for him.
Cacho recalls that at a Macario show that took place in Colón, a town in Argentina, playing a poor boy who was waiting next to the sewer of a town with a stick to kill frogs, a dragonfly stood on his knee, he stayed 5 minutes there on his knee, it seemed that he was acting with him and people thought that the bug was tamed, "for me it was fiction come true".
Carlos Gallegos has directed more than 22 theater, clown, gestural theater and contemporary dance since the year 2007.
The Kaleidoscope District, is one of the most important works in its repertoire and has received some international awards such as: the first place of the XIV Festival of Monologues "Le Coup de Chapeau" in Toulouse, France and the first place of the IX International Festival " Monodrama Thespis "in Kiel, Germany.
Cacho also ventured into the cinema with the Ecuadorian film "Prometeo deporteado", where he played the role of Wilson Prometheus; this film won several national and international awards.
Today he is studying acting in the United States, and returned to the country to mount a play with the Theater Company of the UDA and to dictate acting and clown workshops.
Carlos, at the hand of his wife and children, hopes to establish himself somewhere in the world and continue working in this job that has given him great successes, experiences and above all love.
