Theater to Stream: ‘The Wolves,’ and More Archival Treasures

Most Broadway productions disappear into that hazy province known as collective memory once they have closed. That’s the ephemeral beauty of theater, of course — yet wouldn’t it be great to be able to revisit some of your favorite stage moments, or share them with friends?

Off Broadway shows are even more elusive, which is what makes Lincoln Center Theater’s initiative Private Reels so precious. For the past few months, newly edited archival recordings of productions have been made available to stream, and the latest is Sarah DeLappe’s “The Wolves,” which follows high school girls on a soccer team as they warm up before games. The play has been something of a success story: It was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2017; Lila Neugebauer’s production had three Off Broadway runs (including the one that will be online, at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater); and it is done all over the United States and abroad. Thursday through Aug. 15; lct.org

National Theater at Home

On a much different scale is the National Theater in Britain, which pioneered live broadcasts of its shows in movie theaters before seamlessly moving into home streaming last year. Every time you think the well has run dry, the company pulls out more goodies from its vaults. If you are a fan of Michaela Coel’s acclaimed series “I May Destroy You,” you may want to check out her earlier, and often very funny, solo show “Chewing Gum Dreams” (adapted for TV as “Chewing Gum”). Also worth checking out are Chiwetel Ejiofor in Carol Ann Duffy’s adaptation of the medieval morality play “Everyman,” and Ivo van Hove’s stunning revival of the Arthur Miller drama “A View From the Bridge,” which came to Broadway in 2015. ntathome.com

‘Sanctuary’

Billy Porter wears many hats, all of them fabulously. He may be famous for his performances in “Kinky Boots” on Broadway and “Pose” on television — not to mention elsewhere — but he is also a director and a writer. He has a memoir coming out this fall, and he was also the author of the autobiographical “Ghetto Superstar” and “While I Yet Live.” His latest project is the book for this new gospel musical, with a score by Kurt Carr. The show is getting a virtual outing as part of the New York Stage and Film season, with a cast featuring Deborah Cox, Bryan Terrell Clark, Ledisi, Virginia Woodruff and the choir Broadway Inspirational Voices. July 29-Aug. 2; newyorkstageandfilm.org

PTP/NYC

In normal times, PTP/NYC is a regular on New York’s summer stages, presenting some of the city’s beloved hot-weather entertainment: thorny, often experimental plays by the likes of Caryl Churchill and Howard Barker. As the company remains virtual this summer, its so-called Season 34 ½ continues with “Standing on the Edge of Time,” a collage of texts by such writers as Churchill, David Auburn, Tony Kushner and Mac Wellman (Saturday through July 27), followed by “A Small Handful,” an exploration of Anne Sexton’s poetry with music by Gilda Lyons. (Aug. 13-17). ptpnyc.org

‘Judgment Day’

In the Berkshires this summer, Barrington Stage Company is welcoming audiences both indoors and outdoors. But it also continues to offer online programming with the return of last year’s popular reading of this Rob Ulin comedy, boosted by an ace cast including Jason Alexander, as a lawyer who may or may not be dead, and Patti LuPone as an angel, along with Santino Fontana and Michael McKean. July 26-Aug. 1; barringtonstageco.org

‘An Almost Holy Picture’

Heather McDonald’s play explores faith and parenting via the character of Samuel Gentle. A former minister turned church groundskeeper, he ponders his life, most notably a terrible tragedy, and his relationship with his daughter. It’s an ambitious solo show — Kevin Bacon performed it on Broadway in 2002 — and Everyman Theater in Baltimore is presenting it with its company member Bruce Randolph Nelson. Through Aug. 22; everymantheatre.org

‘A Yiddish Renaissance: A Virtual Concert Celebration’

Once upon a time, Yiddish-language theater thrived in the East Village and on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene keeps this history alive — often with surprising results, like when the company scored a hit with a Yiddish production of “Fiddler on the Roof” that set off waterworks among many audience members. That show will be featured in this virtual concert from the company, along with nods to the likes of “Di Goldene Kale” (“The Golden Bride”), “On Second Avenue” and “Di Yam Gazlonim!” (that would be the Yiddish “Pirates of Penzance,” of course). If you tapped your foot at any of those shows, it’s largely thanks to the longtime arranger, conductor ​​and artistic director Zalmen Mlotek, whom the event is honoring. July 26-30; nytf.org

‘We Live On’

The journalist Studs Terkel’s interview collections were filled with “provocative insights and colorful, detailed personal histories from a broad mix of people,” as The New York Times put it in his obituary, in 2008. No wonder his vivid books are such rich sources for documentary theater. “Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do,” from 1974, became the musical “Working.” And now, the Actors’ Gang Theater in Los Angeles is premiering a three-part show based on Terkel’s “Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression” — a 1970 anthology that also inspired Arthur Miller’s play “The American Clock.” Like “Working,” which keeps being updated, this project adds accounts by the cast, under Tim Robbins’s direction, to those collected by Terkel (some of which feature familiar names like Dorothy Day and Cesar Chavez). Thursday through Sept. 4; theactorsgang.com