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SATELLITESPublic Theater, 425 Lafayette St. (212) 239-6200. Through July 2.
LET'S hope, for her sake, playwright Diana Son's experience with motherhood has gone better for her than for Nina, one of the central characters of her new play "Satellites." Played by Sandra Oh ("Grey's Anatomy"), Nina is an exhausted, frenzied bundle of nerves, desperately attempting to balance the demands of her baby, her husband, her career and the pressures of moving into a new home that is literally crumbling around her.
The play itself is suffused with a raw and personal feeling that is almost painful to watch. Each of the characters is floundering: Miles (Kevin Carroll), Nina's African-American husband, is unemployed and deeply anxious about the financial and personal demands being placed upon him; Eric (Clarke Thorell); his white brother, is a charming gadfly who has never found his direction in life; and Kit (Johanna Day), Nina's partner in her architectural business, is reconciling herself to still being single and childless at age 40.
Racial aspects play a major part in their difficulties. The yuppyish, interracial couple find themselves threatened by the dangerous atmosphere of the Brooklyn area into which they've moved, and Miles is highly suspicious about the too eager overtures of their shady neighbor (Ron Cephas Jones). Nina, desirous of providing her child with a sense of her heritage, hires a Korean nanny (Satya Lee), only to rebel at her old-fashioned ways.
Although the play, Son's first since her highly acclaimed "Stop Kiss," is obviously deeply felt, it seems more cathartic than illuminating. Although individual moments are highly resonant - a scene in which Miles complains bitterly that the couple wasn't ready for parenthood produced gasps in the audience - the accumulation of conflicts feels contrived ultimately becomes as exhausting for the audience as they do for the characters.
Under the skillful direction of Michael Greif, the actors inhabit their roles with the utmost conviction.
Mark Wendland's set design, which depicts the multiple levels of a Brooklyn brownstone, is very convincing.
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