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The cast members of UCLA’s 2005 MFA Actors Showcase will display their acting talents for a

“It’s a market.”

Christian Barillas is not summing up Wall Street, but defining the reality of the entertainment industry. With graduation fast approaching, his class of MFA theater students is quickly realizing that marketing ability is just as important as talent in an actor’s path to success.

The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television understands this, and from May 9-10 will host its annual MFA Actors Showcase at the Falcon Theater in Burbank. This is a student’s final project before graduating and an opportunity for actors to showcase their talent for industry insiders.

“It’s a short evening where each actor in our class performs two scenes that show where we are really cast-able right now,” said Kourtney Kaas, one of the performers in the show.

Casting directors, managers and agents from around town are invited to the performance, which is not open to the public. Like a pitch festival or a student design exhibit, this is the actor’s one night of pure promotion to show the industry what the resume may miss.

Needless to say, it’s a pressure-packed situation.

“A big part of this is finding what type of actor you want to be,” said Julia Willcox, another actor in the showcase. “You can be as versatile as possible, but when it comes down to it, it’s a business, and you have to market yourself as in, this is what you’re good at and what you can be cast as.”

Each actor performs in two scenes. Not only do the students have to find routine that highlights their individual talents, but one that will also equally favor their scene partners. Since the beginning of winter quarter, the class has sifted through upwards of 60 scenes in a search to find the few that offer performers the perfect three minutes of stage time.

“We’re showing what we could be best cast as right now. A big part of the whole process is finding out who we are and how we think we will be cast, and finding material to let other people see us in (those roles),” said April Shawhan, who directed the showcase with Mel Shapiro.

While other graduate schools offer showcase programs, UCLA’s location and department set it apart, Willcox said. For example, schools like Yale and New York University host showcases in New York and Los Angeles, while UCLA showcases only in Los Angeles. According to Willcox, these graduate students plan on being Los Angeles actors, regardless of whether or not they plan on pursuing theater, film or television.

The theater department understands that film and television is the life force of the Los Angeles entertainment industry. Although these actors are graduate students in theater, they know that marketing themselves for film and television is more practical than trying to go straight onto the stage.

“I found people who were doing really well in New York had a name from something they did in L.A. It used to be that New York actors were sought out to be in film, but now TV actors are sought after to be in plays. It is a more lucrative plan,” Willcox said.

Knowing this, the students will also show a 22-minute film, “’Till Parole Do Us Part,” which was written for and stars all nine of the performing actors and demonstrates how their talent translates onto the screen.

“We chose material that shows what we could do in TV and film right now. We’re in L.A.; we’re not doing any classical theater or avant-garde, but showing how we are capable of doing TV and film,” Kaas said.

It may seem ironic that after three years of closely studying theater, the actors’ last project is a market-style showcase rather than a sort of grande finale theater production. But for the actors, after years of doing plays in the department, this is the finale, the bridge between UCLA and a future in which their talent will serve them as much as their business savvy.

“We did all the groundwork (for the showcase); we got all the connections,” Willcox said. “It is very much the business side we are preparing for.”