The Bakersfield College theater department had a showcase fundraiser to help fund student participants in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in Los Angeles. The fundraiser took place on Feb. 6 and 8, at the Black Box, PAC 107.

The Showcase was completely donation based, so there was no exact entrance fee. Every person could give whatever they wanted to. “The school paid for our entrance fee, and we have to come up with the funds to pay for housing and food. This fundraiser will help lighten the load for us,” said Ivan Morales, one of the actors.

Before the performances took place, Professors Brian Sivesind and Kimberly Chin introduced the actors that they each nominated and the actors’ partners to the audience. They also explained the competition taking place at the ACT Festival this year. “It’s a fun experience, especially when it’s in Hawaii,” Sivesind said.

The audience was full of BC students and faculty; the actors were also part of the audience. Sivesind said that he wanted the scenery to be as close to the competition as possible, so he and Chin called each group one by one as if they were in the competition. At the competition, the audience will consist of judges and other competitors.

“This fundraiser was not only to take your money,” Sivesind said. He explained that he wanted the actors to practice performing in front of an audience for the competition. They used it as a way to see the scenes and give actors feedback to help improve their scenes.

After the scenes were over, Chin and Sivesind gave the audience the choice to stay or leave for the feedback that they gave the actors. For most of the actors, this was their first time performing their scenes; some of them hadn’t even rehearsed yet. “Some of them barely learned their lines today,” Sivesind said.

A total of 11 students will represent BC at the ACT Festival, six nominees and five scene partners.  The students are competing for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship.

This year the festival will be held at California State University, Fullerton and it will take place on Feb. 11 through Feb. 15.