Ashlyn Lozano, daughter of Jorie Butler, has been accepted in the bachelor of fine arts acting program at DePaul University. DePaul’s acting major is a four-year program designed to prepare students to work on both stage and screen. The program focuses on expanding range of knowledge and expression of performance while providing skills and techniques to improve acting, movement, voice and speech abilities.

Located in Chicago, DePaul was founded in 1898 and was named for St. Vincent de Paul. The university serves approximately 16,000 undergraduates from all 50 states and nearly 100 countries. Approximately 25 percent of full-time freshmen are from families where neither parent holds a college degree. DePaul’s acting program is one of the nation’s best. The faculty has developed a successful and powerful curriculum that includes ideas from Stanislavski, Spolin, Grotowski, Suzuki, yoga, tai chi, mask work and more. DePaul offers numerous opportunities for internships including Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Harpo Studios, Second City, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and Time Out Chicago.

While focusing on drama activities while at Judge, Lozano is also an active volunteer. She has completed service at 10,000 Villages, Walk4Life, and with the Homeless Youth Resource Center. She has also participated in service project outreaches to those living with AIDS, homeless and homeless youth, drug and alcohol addicts and those recovering from those illnesses. She has earned honor roll status throughout her high school years, and earned an academic excellence award in theatre.

At annual State competitions, Lozano has earned straight superiors in dramatic monologue. At the spring 2011 Utah Theatre Conference, she was awarded the top prize in the state of Utah.

“We had to audition with two monologues in front of representatives from a number of colleges at Dixie State,” said Lozano. “The college representatives served as Judges and awarded a number of scholarships. I was thrilled to earn the top prize for this year.”

She spoke about what she enjoys about the characters she has played in the past and productions in which she has appeared with great enthusiasm. “Acting is cathartic. Acting is about being a community and playing off each other. When you suppress yourself to become or play someone else you learn a lot about who you are. Acting is fearless.”

Darin Hathaway, arts faculty member and drama director at Judge Memorial, speaks very highly of Ashlyn. “She possess incredible talent, positive attitude, great work ethic and is a joy to work with. As an actor, she is versatile, mature and humble, doing whatever she can to improve. Her performances are a true collaboration, which is very rare for a high school student.”

Lozano is equally effusive in her praise of Mr. Hathaway. “When I came to Judge I thought I already knew acting. Turns out that while I did have some talent, what I really had was just dumb luck. I learned that there is a process to acting. I learned how to use that process and to think academically about acting. And I learned that from Mr. Hathaway. He has made a difference in my acting; he has made a difference in me as a person.”

When asked what she will remember most from her high school experience, aside from drama and musical productions, she was quick to answer.

“There is a support here at Judge from the student body, the teachers, the staff, everyone, that you just don’t often find,” said Lozano. “You can sense and feel that people truly care about what’s going on with you. I loved my high school experience at Judge.”

Lozano participated in the collegiate audition process at a number of schools, but calls DePaul her best experience, even though her audition was over four hours long. “The teacher I worked with at DePaul was wonderful. The whole package interested me, being in Chicago, the quality of DePaul’s program, the accessibility of the acting faculty. I absolutely made the right choice in DePaul and cannot wait to get started.”

Lozano will join Judge alumnus Jacob Garcia ’10 who is currently studying music at DePaul University.