The drama department at UC Irvine has...

The drama department at UC Irvine has received a $347,000 bequest, the largest private gift ever to the School of Fine Arts. The bequest, from the estate of Helene Travers Santley of Oceanside, will support the department’s Showcase Productions program in which students are sent to Hollywood and New York to demonstrate their abilities to agents and casting directors in theater, film and television through unpaid public presentations commonly known as showcases. The gift, allocated by the UC Board of Regents, will enable undergraduate students to take part in the program along with graduate students for the first time , a university spokeswoman said. This was one of three private bequests awarded to UC Irvine: The others, totaling $187,455, benefited programs in the biological sciences and medicine.