![Director Marcela Lorca did a warm up routine with actors during a "Into the Woods" rehearsal at Epworth United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, Minn., on Tuesday, February 5, 2019. Marcela Lorca has been with Ten Thousand Things for seven months and she's finally tackling her first show as a director, "Into the Woods."] RENEE JONES SCHNEIDER ¥ renee.jones@startribune.com](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/GRIAJIIV63ZTGIWMVTFGLSNT5E.jpg?&w=1080)
Marcela Lorca led the cast of "Into the Woods" in rehearsal earlier this year. /Renee Jones Schneider
Ten Thousand Things artistic director Marcela Lorca has become the first Twin Cities theatermaker to receive a prestigious national prize.
Lorca received the Zelda Fichandler Award from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society in New York on Tuesday. The award, which includes a cash prize of $5,000 to be used however the artist likes, was designed to honor the creativity of mid-career directors and choreographers at regional theaters. (Guthrie artistic director Joseph Haj received the same prize when he was at his previous job at PlayMakers Repertory Company in North Carolina.)
A veteran of the Guthrie Theater, where her directing projects include "Caroline, or Change," as well as of other regional theaters across the country, Lorca's work for TTT includes "The Winter's Tale," which runs through Nov. 17. Upcoming shows include TTT's "Thunder Knocking on the Door" this winter.
