I rarely read something about adoption in entertainment and want to watch it for myself. You've seen me rant about Lifetime movies before and, quite honestly, even mainstream adoption movies are filled with Lifetime-esque kitsch. That's why I am sitting here, feeling surprised.

I just read an article about a play featuring an adoption storyline. And I want to see it!

Okay, so it is definitely not a happy trip down adoption Kool-Aid lane. In fact, it sounds as if the birth mother brings some drama to the script as she is referred to, in the review, as "cadaverous and weird." But it sounds immensely interesting. And I love a play.

Basically, an adopted daughter gets pregnant while single. Adoptive mother wants the pregnancy terminated but comes around, just like every other mother on the planet would if given enough time. (I truly believe this. Children have a way of changing their grandparents. I'll write more on this someday.) While pregnant, the adoptee begins looking for her birth mother, feeling a need to connect.

You can imagine the drama. You can further envision the drama by this question posed by the reviewer.

For all its shortcomings, Bye, Bye, Baby (the last of Presentation House's Third Stage Series) does make an interesting point: where are the fathers? If birth mothers don't want to be found or if the past is too painful to revisit, why not look for the fathers? It did, after all, take two to tango.

And there's the rub. Now, perhaps that's what this play is specifically about; the reviewer does not say. Perhaps this fictional birth mother turned a cold shoulder to her pregnant, placed child. But the generalization of the statement saying that "birth mothers don't want to be found" does the reading public no good! We do, on a large scale, want to be found! We do want to know that our children are okay and happy adults! We do want them to know that we have cared for them and loved them over the years. And, to be honest, whose past isn't difficult to revisit?

But another good point? I'd love to see a play about a male adoptee, expecting his first child and deciding to search for his biological father, complete with opinion from his adoptive father. We pay so much attention to the motherly side of things... isn't it about time for some fatherly spotlight?

Anyway, the play is in Vancouver at The Presentation House through today. You can call 604-990-3474 for tickets. If you go, let us know!

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For more on adoption in the movies, read these posts.



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