Photo Flash: IRT's USELESS Ends Limited Run

USELESS, Saviana Stanescu's dark-humored drama about human trafficking, ends its limited run at IRT Theater, downtown Manhattan. The production directed by Jose Zayas, starring Ana Grosse, Andy Phelan, and Steven Rishard, featured creative work by designers: Susan Zeeman Rogers (Set), Ryan O'Gara (Lighting), David Margolin Lawson (Sound), and Lisa Renee Jordan (Costumes).

Check out production photos below!

Producers Lucy Di Rosa and Ana Grosse joined forces with Kori Rushton and IRT's Residency Season to bring to life Useless by cutting-edge Romanian-born playwright Saviana Stanescu (Aliens with Extraordinary Skills at Women's Project, Waxing West at La MaMa Theatre - 2007 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Best Play, Hurt - published in The Best American Short Plays: 2012-2013).

Useless is a powerful dark humored drama about love, dreams and human trafficking. It has been developed in New York over the past three years, with workshops and readings at Lark Play Development Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and Queens Theatre. Useless investigates the relationship between a couple of Eastern European immigrants involved in organ trafficking (Kora, who was formerly sex-trafficked and later saved by her now husband Chris), and Omy, a mentally challenged young man from a poor country, brought to the U.S. for his kidney. Omy affects Kora and Chris in a profound way, triggering unexpected outbursts and changes. He becomes a sort of mirror for their unfulfilled dreams, hidden fears and desires, and ultimately makes them connect on a deeper level. Or so we hope. The play intersperses heightened realistic scenes with dreams and nightmares that offer a glimpse into the characters' inner lives and alternate realities.

The production was directed by José Zayas (The House of the Spirits - ACE, HOLA and Ovation Awards, Southern Promises, Pinkolandia) and featured: Ana Grosse (Seven Spots on the Sun at Cincinnati Playhouse, La Cena at IATI Theater - Latin ACE and HOLA awards, Fêtes de la Nuit at The Ohio Theatre), Andy Phelan (Galileo at Classic Stage, The Awake at 59E59) and Steven Rishard (P.S. Jones and the Frozen City with Terra Nova Collective, The Bacchae for Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park).

Photos by Michael Palma.

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