Director Marcela Lorca takes a bow at Ten Thousand Things Theater with ‘Helen,’ but isn’t bowing out

Marcela Lorca would like you to know that she’s stepping down from leadership of Ten Thousand Things Theater but is not stepping away from the field. To the contrary, she hopes to be more in our faces with her work as she becomes a full-time freelance director staging shows across Minnesota, the nation and the globe.

Her mother, an artist in their native Chile, worked into her late ‘80s, Lorca says. Daughter has a long way to go yet.

Lorca closes out her six years at the helm of TTT with a staging of “Helen,” an interpretation of the Greek figure whose kidnapping caused the Trojan War. In this version of the story, the Helen getting the blame or credit for all that warring is a body double. The real Helen, played by George Keller, has traveled to Egypt to wait out the travails.

“As someone who grew up in a dictatorship, I’m especially concerned about representations of truth,” Lorca said. “This is a really timely play.”

“Helen” is one of three strongly female-centric shows that Lorca staged for TTT. She also directed an all-female version of “Emilia,” Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s drama about Emilia Bassano, Shakespeare’s “dark muse” and a poet in her own right. And playwright Karen Zacarias came to see Lorca’s production of “The Sins of Sor Juana,” a drama about a groundbreaking 17th-century Mexican poet and writer who could only express her genius through religious texts.

“In these stories, women find ways to get their voices heard and exercise their creative genius in the best way they know how,” Lorca said. “I wish this was all historical. Women have had a rough time up to now, so I’m proud to bring these stories forward.”

Lorca spent 27 years at the Guthrie working under artistic directors Garland Wright, Joe Dowling and Joseph Haj. As a protégée of Wright, she developed an aesthetic that included creating images onstage that looked like moving artworks.

For someone with such a strong architectural and visual arts background, taking the reins at TTT would seem like a misfit. Founded by Michelle Hensley, TTT takes a minimalist, travel-ready approach to shows, eschewing burdensome and expensive design elements such as lights and elaborate sets.

Its productions also are performed in the round with lights up, so artists and audiences can see one another. Those audiences include the incarcerated, residents of shelters and other congregate settings.

At the end of its run of performances in prisons, TTT brings its shows to places like the Loft or various church halls.

“Because we don’t have lights, we create the light with our movement and our voices,” said Regina Marie Williams, an actor and TTT board member who was directed by Lorca in three shows, including “Iphigenia at Aulis.” “Marcela’s gift is that she’s able to draw out our best, most authentic work from us.”

TTT’s shows in prisons are especially gratifying, Lorca said. It’s not just because the company is bringing art to those who are underserved. These captive audiences also “have a sharp BS meter,” Lorca said. “To connect, we have to bring our most authentic selves.”

Others who have worked with Lorca say that it’s not just her art that is admirable, but the way she leads a rehearsal room.

“I always learn something from her because when she’s directing, it’s a master class,” said Greta Oglesby, who first worked with Lorca nearly 20 years ago at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival when Lorca directed movement for Shakespeare’s “A Winter’s Tale.” “She’s got so many tools in her toolbox that we get to play, to learn and perpetually grow.”

Lorca appreciates the new insights that TTT has given her about her craft. She believes that people misunderstand the company’s aesthetic.

“It’s not doing things barebones but getting to what is essential,” Lorca said. “We distill stories to their essences, and that’s something I will take away from here.”

Lorca’s signature TTT shows also include “Into the Woods” and “Thunder Knocking at the Door,” musical works where her collaborators included Peter Vitale and Sanford Moore. But as much as an interviewer wants her to look back over her legacy, she’s loath to oblige.

“My best works, best days are ahead of me,” Lorca said. “I’m making a move but I’m not retiring. There are too many great stories to tell.”

Where: Various community venues plus the Capri Theater, Open Book and Hennepin United Methodist Church.

When: Through Nov. 10.

Tickets: $35 or pay-as-you-can. 612-203-9502, tenthousandthings.org.