EUTAWVILLE -- A Eutawville native is currently performing in her first off-Broadway production.

Shakeilya D. Washington, who attended St. James-Gaillard Elementary and Holly Hill Middle, where she was a member of the school's drama club, is appearing in "And My Name Ain't Peaches."

"This production ... is a great platform for my acting career," Washington said. "This is my first off-Broadway production, and I'm extremely excited."

She said her love of reading started her on the path to becoming an actress.

"I always liked reading books. St. James-Gaillard had a Reading Book Worm contest every year, and I remember wanting to win and read the most books so I could get a prize at the end of the school year," Washington said. "This had a major impact on me. I would read and pretend I was the characters so I could get a vivid understanding of what I was reading. This improved my craft of acting. It gave me a naturalistic tonation and variation when reading scripts."

When Washington went to Holly Hill Middle, she auditioned for the school chorus but wasn't accepted.

"I remember the teacher coming up to me and saying, 'No, honey, I'm going to put you in the Drama Club,' and that's where it all started," she said.

Washington moved with her family to New Jersey before she had the opportunity to finish eighth-grade at Holly Hill Middle School. She continued her pursuits in acting at New Brunswick High School in New Brunswick, N.J.

There, Washington was cast in the role of Anybodys in "West Side Story" and Mickey the Cop in "The Odd Couple," and she did a one-woman show titled "You Don't Live in My Street" in which she played a drug addict.

After high school, she attended Temple University's School of Communication and Theater and graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications in May 2007. Currently, she is at HB Studio in New York, where she is studying scene and acting technique.

"This is just the beginning," Washington said of her latest off-Broadway role. "I'm ready to take Hollywood by storm and represent Eutawville, South Carolina."

Washington's mother is Lavinia Washington, daughter of Ernest and Annie Bell Bryant of Eutawville.

T&D Correspondent Lillie Doctor can be reached by e-mail at doctorlil_@hotmail.com. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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