| August 12, 2002 |
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QUEEN PUBLICITY 550 W. REGENT STREET, #341 Telephone: (310) 674-1776 / Facsimile
(310) 674-1776 NEWS |
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16-YEAR OLD NEW JERSEY SCHOLAR, SASHA PEMBERTON, SELECTED TO TRAVEL TO LOS ANGELES TO "SHADOW" LOS ANGELES-BASED ACTOR, ADILAH BARNES FOR "SUMMER SIGNATURE EXPERIENCE" (Los Angeles, Calif.) - Sasha Pemberton, an academically outstanding 16-year old junior at the prestigious private college prepatory school, The Peddie School in Heightstown, N.J. recently spent 3 ½ weeks living with and "shadowing" the daily routines and show-business aspects of award-winning actor, Adilah Barnes at her Los Angeles home. The Signature Experience, a project offered at The Peddie School provides students who have qualified through submission of a detailed proposal, an opportunity to create an educational adventure of their own design and carry it out. The purpose of the project is to help students develop courage, self-sufficiency, persistence and flexibility and to develop the planning processes necessary to implement such a project in an unfamiliar locale. For Sasha Pemberton, an aspiring theatre major who already has a body of work, her Signature Experience entailed traveling cross country to reside for three and a half weeks with someone involved in the entertainment business. "I would love to see how shows, movies or sitcoms are produced and what is seen by an audience. I want to be able to work with real directors, producers and actors and see what goes on behind the scenes to make a script come alive. My spirit longs to soar freely and my body yearns to move" states Sasha who was also nominated to represent the State of New Jersey as a national scholar at the National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. July 8th through July 18th where she along with 28 other young scholars were honored. Through the New York referral of Sauda Johnson, a lifelong mentee and former acting student of Adilah Barnes, Barnes was recommended as the perfect match and mentor for Sasha's Signature Experience project and the mentorship was arranged. While shadowing and being mentored by Barnes, Sasha put into journal form her experiences while in Los Angeles as the final stage of her Signature Experience project. During the internship Sasha had the opportunity to tail Barnes on auditions, film screenings and interview Barnes' private students. She volunteered at the office of the Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival of which Barnes is founder, participated in Barnes' acting class and attended social gatherings that included the screening of Toni Braxton's VH-1 film Play'd and Steve Harvey's CD release party. A seasoned actress of stage, motion pictures and television, Barnes currently plays the recurring role of "Judge Randall" in Lifetime Television's new series For the People and recently starred as "Etta" in the May 5th CBS-Hallmark made-for-tv movie, Little John, opposite Ving Rhames, Gloria Reuben and Patty Duke. She appears in Sandra Bullock's thriller Murder By Numbers and co-starred opposite Julia Roberts in the award-winning Erin Brockovich. Television audiences best know Barnes as the character of "Anne Marie" on ABC's Roseanne, for five seasons as well as guest starring roles on CBS' Family Law and The Agency, WB's The Gilmore Girls and UPN's Roswell. As a private acting teacher, Barnes has coached some of Hollywood's hottest stars including Toni Braxton (for Kingdom Come and Play'd), Jada Pinkett-Smith (for Set It Off); Benjamin Bratt, D.C. Curry (for Grace Under Fire) Kym Whitley and others. -more- For additional information and photographs, contact Allison Queen at (310) 674-1776. |