Prescott’s True Rising Star
By Tara Fort
With an alum list boasting celebrities like Viola Davis, Val Kilmer and Jessica Chastain, it is with true Prescott Pride that one of our own shares her journey from dream to acceptance at one of the most prestigious performing arts schools in the world: The Juilliard School. Georgia Harrington, a 2023 Prescott High School graduate, was accepted into Juilliard and will be majoring in acting there starting this fall.
Founded in 1905 and now a world leader in performing arts education, Juilliard remains a highly competitive school with a general acceptance rate of only seven to eight percent. Despite the odds, Harrington is now on her way to realizing what most only find in their acting dreams.
Harrington moved to Prescott at age five and said her mother Julie Chavez Harrington and the Prescott community served as her inspiration: “I’m homegrown! The community theater in Prescott led me to the most beautiful people whose lessons and kindness I will carry in my pocket forever. My mama is an incredible actor and director in her own right and has inspired me every step of the way. Observing her work as an artist puts stars in my eyes! Growing up, she never pushed me to have a life in the arts, and always enforced a respect and sacredness when it came to theatre. She is my first and favorite director, and I will forever be in debt to her for fighting for what’s best for me and for showing me how magical acting can be.”
After a grueling audition process in San Francisco with 2,000 applicants, Harrington was selected as one out of 50 who were called to New York for a final callback weekend. In New York, Georgia experienced a slice of Juilliard life and auditioned with “some of the most incredible young artists whose names we’ll be seeing in lights in the near future!”
Georgia added, “When were in in New York, the Dean of the Drama Department Evan Yionoulis said, ‘All fifty of you are at the level to be successful at Juilliard and it will now be the faculty’s hard decision to create an ensemble of eighteen who will work intimately together for the next four years.’ I feel extremely lucky to have been included in that final group of eighteen.”
Harrington will document her dream life at Juilliard through social media and hopes to “come out of Juilliard with a stronger body, an open mind, and more of a well-rounded understanding of the human experience. I can’t wait to play, work, and spend my time doing exactly what I want to do. Ultimately, I want to be the best actor that I can be and believe Juilliard is the best place I can do that.”
To find out more about Harrington and her New York life, follow her on Instagram (georgie._.piie) and her GoFundMe site (https://gofund.me/3c216139) where her goal is to raise $20,000 toward expenses for school and her new life in the Big City. To find out more about Juilliard, visit: https://www.juilliard.edu/.