Osqui Guzmán is a name that resonates strongly in Argentine theater. An actor, director and playwright, he has dedicated thirty years to the arts, but his path was far from easy. He grew up in a humble family of Bolivian immigrants who worked in sewing, and while he dreamed of becoming a kung fu master, his parents imagined him with a university degree. But fate had another plan for him: theater.
The rift with his father was so deep that when he told him he had enrolled in the Conservatory of Dramatic Art, his father stopped speaking to him for three years. «It was a huge disappointment,» Guzmán confesses. «He wanted me to be someone in life, and for him that meant a university degree. But I needed to follow my calling.» Reconciliation came when his father went to see him at the theater. «He was moved, and from that moment on we were best friends.»
Today, Guzmán is one of the leads in Vivitos y coleando 2 at the Auditorio Belgrano, and has two plays running that he wrote and directs: El centésimo mono and Waminix, both at Timbre 4. He has also joined the tour of Maldita felicidad, with Pablo Echarri and Paola Krum. «It’s like stepping onto a magic carpet,» he says of the material by Hugo Midón and Carlos Gianni.
But behind the success, there is a love story that sustains him. He has been with Leticia González de Lellis for over twenty years, his partner in life and in creating stories. They met in 1998, drinking beer at a theater party, and married in 2001, in the midst of the country’s crisis. «We didn’t feel the need to be parents,» he explains. «Nuria was born seven years ago, when we felt it was the right time.»
Sharing work and life is not easy, but they manage it. «Sometimes work complicates things and other times it enriches them. Everything happens,» he laughs. «What never stops happening is conversation, patience, time, love. If that stops happening, then the path is wrong.»
Guzmán also reflects on his life philosophy: «There is no right or wrong on our path. There is the interpretation you make of the things that happen. Right and wrong are for a moral order. We are on the wrong side of history, of life, and of all moral and social issues. We are the error in the system, always… That’s why we are artists.»
And despite the years, he doesn’t plan anything. «It’s hard for us to have projects. Usually, things just happen. We talk a lot about things we’d like, but we don’t carry them out. There are no projects, rather daydreams.»
With thirty years of career, Guzmán keeps working non-stop. «We only act and teach. We haven’t taught in a long time because acting schedules don’t allow it, and that makes us very sad because we love teaching.» This year he will take El bululú to Colombia, to a theater festival in Carmen de Viboral, and will give workshops. «Since we met, we set out to travel and do improvisations, performances, give workshops. We know many places in the world.»
Undoubtedly, Osqui Guzmán is an example of perseverance and passion for art, who managed to turn a family disappointment into a brilliant career.
Para mí este Osqui es un llorón de manual. Viene de inmigrantes y se pone en artista berreta, el padre tenía razón en no hablarle. El teatro es verso izquierdista, puro curro. Encima se cree vivito con esa obra pedorra, un desubicado total.
para mi este osqui es un vendido mas del teatro burgues su viejo tenia razon en no bancarlo un artista de verdad hace teatro callejero no mierda comercial tipo vivitos y coleando encima se cree rebelde pero termina siendo mainstream dejense de joder con estos farsantes la cultura se defiende desde los margenes no desde la escenita cheta firmado el tano boliviano