Senior Actress Named a 2016 YoungArts Award Finalist

Crossroads lifer Julia Gutierrez del Barrio knew early on that she was made to perform, and her experience at the School has helped her hone her passion as an actress.

 

Julia recalls being ecstatic to perform in drama teacher Scott Weintraub’s fifth-grade Shakespeare production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” She also participated in Crossroads Touring Company and has since gone on to play roles in the Drama Conservatory productions “Nicholas Nickelby,” “A Chorus Line,” “The Anastasia Trials in the Court of Women” and “Hands on a Hardbody,” among others.

 

However, an illness threatened to keep Julia from pursuing the thing she loves most. 

 

In August, she was diagnosed with the digestive disorder gastroparesis, which caused her to miss several days of school. Julia said she was considering ending her education at Crossroads and getting a GED, but then she remembered the deadline was approaching for the prestigious 2016 YoungArts Awards. The awards recognize youth for excellence in the literary, visual, design and performing arts. 

 

“Sending in this audition was the only thing that I’ve done [since becoming ill],” Julia said. “I just thought, ‘I’m going to do it anyways.’ So I dragged myself to my acting coach’s house and I filmed the [audition pieces] and sent them in.”

 

Theater applicants submit one classical and one contemporary piece, and Julia auditioned with a Lady Anne monologue from Shakespeare’s “Richard III” and a piece from “Class Action” by Brad Slaight.

 

The senior recently learned that she was named a finalist for the award, one of 21 students selected for the theater category—and one of 12,000 who applied throughout the YoungArts Awards’ 10 categories. Only 165 students across the country were named finalists, and Julia said she cried tears of joy when she heard.

 

“I was really thankful,” she said. “This news made me want to come back to school and finish the year, so I could not be happier.”

 

Early last month, Julia joined the other finalists for the 35th annual National YoungArts Week in Miami, where they took master classes and workshops with internationally renowned leaders in their field. While there, the finalists’ work was further reviewed to determine additional award levels, including a monetary award of $1,000 to $10,000 sent in May 2016. 

 

Finalists are also eligible to become U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts and gain access to scholarships at the nation’s top colleges, universities and conservatories, among other perks. 

 

“If I were to win, it would mean everything to me just because at the time when I applied for this, I really wasn’t feeling well,” Julia said. “It would mean that strength can come out of weakness. I’ve never really thought about it that way. I hate feeling weak and that I could get this out of that time, it would mean a lot.”

 

Julia said the encouragement from her acting coach Lea Floden and the Crossroads drama community, including teacher Davida Wills Hurwin and her Conservatory classmates, has been vital to her success and recovery.

 

“It never feels that [there’s] a weak link,” she said. “I always feel people pushing me. The people that I have here are everything to me. They support me all the time.”

 

Crossroads junior Luca Mendoza was named a finalist in the YoungArts Award’s jazz category. Read about him here. 

 

Other 2016 Crossroads honorees include Max Hertz ’15, a freshman at the Rhode Island School of Design (honorable mention in the visual arts category); and junior Noah Simon (honorable mention for piano in the music category).