Ten Thousand Things
Ten Thousand Things is a theater organization based in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. The organization's mission aims to make theater more accessible, and their touring performances are presented for free at locations such as women's shelters, homeless shelters, prisons, and community and educational centers throughout Minnesota. The organization's artists also work longer-term with some correctional facilities and youth, bringing workshops, residency programs, and classes to audiences. Performances for paying audiences in the Twin Cities are also available and help fund the theater's model.
The productions intentionally have minimal sets and props and no stage lights and are performed in-the-round, which allows the performers to see the audiences and the audiences to see one another. Ten Thousand Things’ founder, Michelle Hensley, discusses the theater's model, history, and impact in her 2015 book, All the Lights On: Reimagining Theater with Ten Thousand Things.
Ten Thousand Things is a member of Theatre Communications Group.
History
Following an initial production of The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht at a homeless shelter in California, Michelle Hensley founded Ten Thousand Things as a nonprofit in 1990. A few years later, Hensley moved to the Twin Cities, where she continued Ten Thousand Things’ work, touring plays to nontraditional venues where audiences often don't have access to theater, prioritizing “big stories” and “fairy tales” that audiences can relate to, and paying actors well to ensure high-quality performances.In 2018, Michelle Hensley stepped down as artistic director and was succeeded by Marcela Lorca, who had previously served as the Movement Director, as well as a choreographer/director at the Guthrie Theater.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ten Thousand Things continued to pay its artists, even for cancelled productions, and found ways to continue to provide artistic offerings. Lorca, in collaboration with playwright Kira Obolensky and Ten Thousand Things’ artists and staff, developed Ten Thousand Voices during the pandemic, a new program facilitating creative writing exercises for audiences, which were then performed by Ten Thousand Things’ actors.
Ten Thousand Things Today
In 2024, Marcela Lorca stepped down as artistic director and was followed in 2025 by Caitlin Lowans, who was previously the artistic director at Theatreworks Colorado Springs.Ten Thousand Things continues to build community partnerships, produce free touring performances at nontraditional venues, offer pay-what-you-can performances for paying audiences, and facilitate workshops and residencies in correctional facilities.
Impact and awards
The model for Ten Thousand Things has been recognized and adopted nationally, including by theater companies such as The Public Theater in New York City, Baltimore Center Stage, Delaware Shakespeare, the Old Globe in San Diego, and California Shakespeare Theater. In 2017, Ten Thousand Things partnered with HowlRound to produce the Ten Thousand Theaters Conference, which invited theaters from across the country to learn more about Ten Thousand Things' model.Ten Thousand Things has been presented with Ivey Awards, and its productions have received positive reviews from local to regional critics, such as The Minnesota Star Tribune and Talkin’ Broadway. Awards include: Actors’ Equity Association awarded Ten Thousand Things its 2017 Rosetta LeNoire Award for "outstanding artistic contributions to the universality of the human experience in American Theatre." Theatre Communications Group awarded Michelle Hensley its 2018 Visionary Leadership Award. In 2019, MinnPost named Ten Thousand Things' production of The Winter's Tale among the best theater of 2019, The Minnesota Star Tribune named the company's production of Karen Zacarías' The Sins of Sor Juana among the best Twin Cities theater of 2019, and Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation awarded Marcela Lorca the Zelda Fichandler Award. The organization was recognized on The Minnesota ''Star Tribune'''s "best-of" lists for 2022 and 2024.