Theater This Weekend: 5 Plays To Catch Before They Expire + Bernadette, Kelli and Audra

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Kristin Griffith as Mrs. Ollie Espenshade in The Fatal Weakness (1946)

I’ve seen the five plays below — The Copper Children, The Mint’s Summerstock Streaming Festival, The Deep Blue Sea, Gloria: A Life, and The Line, in order of expiration date — and recommend them. They are free unless otherwise noted. Click on the titles for a link to the videos. Below that are three concerts, one of them launching live this weekend.

These are in addition to the shows that are opening this weekend. For those, check out my guide to theater openings

The Copper Children
Expires July 15
$15
The Copper Children,” is a play by Karen Zacarias based on a horrifying true story of immigrant toddlers shipped from New York City to Arizona in 1904 that led to a custody case newspapers dubbed the trial of the century. If there are echoes in this historical drama of the current family separations at the border, the specific series of events depicted in this arresting play chronicles an almost surreal combustion of desperation and bigotry. (My review)

The Mint’s Summerstock Streaming Festival
Expires July 19
There are three plays from The Mint’s archives, written between 1911 and 1946, each offering a kind of porto-feminist take on the women characters. If you only have patience for one, the most briskly directed is “The Fatal Weakness” by George Kelly. The plays are free but, apparently for contractural reasons, you need to request a password and enter your e-mail address. (My review)

The Deep Blue Sea
Expires July 19
On the surface, The Deep Blue Sea might seem a love triangle, but Helen McCrory’s performance makes it a prism — multifaceted, disorienting, and brilliant – in the National Theatre’s 2016 production of Terence Rattigan’s 1952 play. (My review)

Gloria: A Life
Expires July 24
An unconventional play about Gloria Steinem, starring Christine Lahti, that’s half storytelling, half consciousness-raising, with lots of video. (My review when it was Off-Broadway)

The Line
Expires August 4
In this latest documentary play by the team that produced “The Exonerated” and “Coal Country,” a starry, spot-on cast portray seven real-life frontline medical workers in New York– two doctors, three nurses, an Emergency Medical Technician and a paramedic — who tell their wartime stories of dealing with COVID-19. The concrete details of their lives and the stories they tell are devastating. (My review)