At 23 years old, Diane Lozano is a student director at Cerritos College pursuing her dream of working in theater.
Though she describes herself as shy outside the stage doors, something shifts when she walks into the theater. Inside, she feels like her most confident and authentic self. It’s here, through the arts department, that Lozano discovered both her voice and her passion.
Before theater, Lozano had envisioned a different creative career. At Warren High School, she immersed herself in video game design and animation courses, including 2D animation, 3D animation, and organic modeling.
Her plan was to continue that path at Mt. San Antonio College, which offered a strong program in the field.
But the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
“Covid started to happen and I really lost interest in it,” Lozano said as she explained how her motivation faded during the pandemic.
She was so set on going to Mt. SAC that she didn’t really think to apply anywhere else but eventually it led her to Cerritos College.
Not knowing where her path was leading her she randomly picked theater as her major as she found it intriguing even though she didn’t have experience.
Lozano started as an actor. Around the end of her second year at Cerritos Jerry Prell, a director at Cerritos College, recognized her leadership and saw potential that led to him offering a stage manager position for his next show.
She accepted it and fell in love.
Her favorite part of stage management is calling cues, but she enjoys the entire process. Even when she isn’t in a specific role, being part of building a production from nothing into its final form feels special to her.
Lozano has lots of gratitude towards Prell and Tina Kennedy, her mentor, who she claims is a huge inspiration for her.
She can’t imagine going back to acting now that she has had the experience of being a director and stage manager.
For her it’s more than being in charge it’s about getting to see something go from nothing to its final form on the stage.
Being at Cerritos also exposed and opened her eyes to discover her love for the arts such as music, dance, and theater.
Lozano has taken part in dance productions at the school. She has performed in campus dance productions as well, an experience she says expanded the way she views movement, staging, and storytelling in theater.
Lozano’s first experience in theater was a field trip in middle school . She found it intriguing but it never crossed her mind that that was a career she could possibly do.
Growing up in an immigrant household, expectations leaned toward more traditional professions.
“Growing up I didn’t have access to theater,” Lozano said, “I didn’t think that was something someone like me could do”.
As she has done some professional gigs in directing, they have confirmed her desire to chase her dream in stage management and directing as a lifelong career.
Currently, Lozano is directing “Trifles”, a political feminist play exploring sexism, misogyny and abuse. She chose the piece because its themes resonated deeply with her.
She found it really important to put this play out there to represent stories that haven’t been told and bring awareness to the topics the play portrays.
“Not only did I relate to the themes of female oppression and the effects of misogyny, but I saw how it affected my mom and how she tried her best to rise above and raise my sister and I to believe we have the power to make our own choices,” Lozano said.
Her struggles as a child and seeing the struggles her mother went through to raise her and her siblings influenced her decision in choosing “Trifles”.
“I feel like I have a lot more things to put out there,” she added.
Ultimately, her dream is to make theater more accessible to lower income and minority communities, people who like her younger self, may not believe a place for them exists in the arts.
“Trifles” will run as part of two one-act evenings alongside “The Real Inspector Hound” from Dec. 11–14 at the Cerritos College Performing Arts Center.
