Mike Birbiglia's The New One on Broadway at the Cort Theatre

Mike Birbiglia did not want to become a father. He states seven reasons as to why. Mainly he believed he was inadequate. He also did not want his life to change drastically.

He tells the audience all of this in "The New One". Playing for twelve weeks on Broadway's Cort Theatre, Birbiglia's experience is funny and also harsh. The first part of the show is dedicated to the reasons as to why he did not want to become a father. Interspersed are stories of his brother and nephew and his career. As someone who does not want children it was easy to relate to this, but as the show progresses even I thought some of the things he was saying were too mean.

Birbiglia is a comedian and actor who has appeared mainly with Amy Schumer. He is funny and endearing. You can't help but like him. He is relatable. That is why it is a shame that the second half of the show isn't as strong as the first half. The jokes aren't as funny especially when you stop to think about the things he is saying about his family which now includes his young daughter.

"The New One" begins with a stage bare of almost everything but a stool and a rug. Birbiglia begins his show talking about his first major purchase: a couch. This turns into a story involving his brother and nephew and after recounting this story to his wife she tells him she wants a baby. He insists that he shouldn't have one especially since upon marrying she knew how he felt about having one of his own. She reminds him that she was unsure at first whether or not she wanted one, but now it's official. She wants a baby.

He lists 6 out of the 7 reasons in detail why he should not have children. In the end he gives in to his wife's demand and she is pregnant and experiencing pregnancy hormones that double every three days.

The show is directed by Seth Barrish, and director and performer make the show funny. There are bits during his wife Jen's (he calls her Clo) pregnancy that are hilarious. It is fun to watch him relive his wife's pregnancy and all the funny moments that came with it.

When the baby arrives, the jokes keep coming. They just aren't as funny anymore.

It is possible that Birbiglia is overexaggerating how he felt after his daughter's birth for comedic effect. Even so, he is not as likable as he was before the birth of his daughter. He is upset by the fact that his life has drastically changed even though his wife promised it wouldn't and while that is understandable, he comes across as selfish and full of self pity.

There comes a moment after a particular interaction with his wife and daughter that he states "I know why dads leave". He makes a joke out of it, but it is still an incredibly harsh things to say. This is the moment in the show that got the least amount of laughs and those that did laugh did it more because they felt uncomfortable.

I am not familiar for Birbiglia's comedy. It is possible that he says things like this for shock value. I don't know. Even so it is not funny. It is a horrible thing to say and maybe he does legitimately feel this way. He hasn't left his wife and daughter, so maybe he feels this is why he can say something like this. I have no idea, but it did not sit right with me.

A lot of the jokes built around the birth of his daughter and life after her birth revolve around traditional gender roles. He is not as attached to his daughter because his wife is doing all of the work. She is raising their baby and still doing all the household chores without his help. Yes, there are people who live this way in reality and more power to them if they are both content. He is not content, though.

The show does have a happy ending. He begins to help his wife with the chores and he develops a bond with his daughter. There were beautiful moments on his way to the discovery of fatherhood, but there were also ugly moments. Those jokes might have been written in an exaggerated form of how he truly felt, and I am not knocking on his experience. He is allowed to feel how he does. The ending makes up for those moments, though.

Fireflies at Atlantic Theater Company

Donja R. Love's Fireflies opens with our protagonist Olivia (DeWanda Wise) writing a letter to a woman named Ruby. She mentions the bombs going off and hopes they end soon. She goes inside and after a few moments Olivia's husband Charles (Khris Davis) enters. From there we are thrust into Charles and Olivia's life together. Charles is a reverend who travels a lot preaching at different cities affected by violence due to the civil rights movement.

Olivia it turns out has hundreds of letters stashed under a floorboard all addressed to Ruby, but never mailed. Charles has known about the letters for three years, including the fact that they are filled with passion towards Ruby the mystery woman. The entirety of the play takes place at the couple's home with the majority of the action occurring in the kitchen. As the play progresses more and more secrets emerge. Charles has been cheating on his wife, he is an alcoholic and has beat her in the past. Olivia is pregnant, but does not want to be. She writes Charles's speeches as she is a gifted writer. This are difficult characters to portray and despite all their flaws, Wise and Davis do a remarkable job of bringing them to life fully fleshed out. It would be easy for these characters to be unlikable, but you sympathize with them and you understand their motives for everything they do.

The actors are wonderful and play off of each other well. They have great chemistry together. Olivia's final sermon is beautiful and delivered with immense passion by wise. Fireflies are God's people being called home, but they are more than that as Olivia proclaims. As she nears the ending of her sermon, the lights dim and the audience is greeted by thousands of fire flies projected on the stage. It is a powerful ending to a powerful piece of theatre.

Europa Report (2013)

There is something fascinating about "Europa Report" despite all the science fiction jargon.

Minutes into the film we discover that the crew in the film are in trouble. The rest of the film dedicates its time telling us how we reached this point, but you know the crew is in trouble from the beginning. And why wouldn't they be? They are in space after all.

The film is directed by Sebastian Cordero. In it Samantha Unger (Embeth Daviditz) sends a crew to Europa (one of Jupiter's moons) to discover whether or not there is life there as there is water on the moon.

The crew heads off to Europa. The film acts as a found footage film with the audience glimpsing into the lives of these astronauts through the cameras found on board their ship. There is nothing exciting going on at first, yet you are not bored watching them live on the ship.

As they are so far from Earth, the communications fail and the astronauts are left on their own. This is when the tension truly starts to build, as they are alone in space. This is also when things start to go wrong.

The film is simple and devoid of intense action scenes. Instead we are treated to the relationships the crew has with one another. This is a nice touch as too many films feel as though they have to do something drastic to keep the audiences' attention.

The crew consists of pilot Rosa (Anamaria Marinca), commander William (Daniel Wu), engineer Andrei (Michael Nyqvist), and science officer James (Sharlto Copley).

This is a story that has been done many times. There is nothing tremendously original about it, but it does have a scary feel to it. There is tension with everything the crew does especially since one screw up can mean the end for everybody.

They are all extremely passionate about their mission. They don't always make the smartest decisions, but neither are most people when they are on the brink of a major scientific discovery.

Reversing Roe (2018)

 The decision of Roe v. Wade is at stake as Brett Kavanaugh seems to be on his way to be nominated to the Supreme Court.

Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg's Netflix documentary comes at a critical time for many women. Currently seven states have only one operating abortion clinic. Several states have placed restrictions to make getting an abortion difficult. No matter which side of the abortion argument you stand, you know that the nomination is important. 

One of the first people we are introduced to is Colleen McNicholas, a Missouri based doctor who travels all over the country providing abortions to states with no abortion providing doctors.

The film itself provides a history of abortion beginning in the 60s before Roe v. Wade leading up to now where people continue to fight for or against the right for an abortion. 

The film interviews Republicans who oppose abortion and the reasons why they are so against it. Due to this, I was surprised to learn that many of the original pro-abortion laws were passed by Republicans. In fact, Ronald Reagan passed the first, liberal abortion law when he was serving as governor of California in the 60s.

As opponents of abortion began to rise, they began campaigning for (and advising) several Republican candidates and anti-abortion sentiments became more of right-wing views. Many Republican candidates who were pro-choice or undecided won presidential elections after saying they were staunch pro-lifers (including Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Donald Trump). 

No matter what ends up happening with the new Supreme Court Justice, it is apparent that the battle will continue. We see Wendy Davis filibustering in Texas and the what this means for the future of abortion in this country. We also see what a difference it makes to have several women serving on the Supreme Court as opposed to none or even one.

The film is biased as most documentary films are. However, to include people with differing views in the film, I think is an admirable attempt at keeping things too biased. Check out the film and hopefully learn something new. All I ask is that you make as informed decisions as you possibly can.