Columbus Backstage: Melodies & Moments

Columbus Backstage: Melodies & Moments, directed and edited by David Maurice Bailey, will screen Thursday, November 12, 2026, at 6 p.m. at the Lincoln Theatre in Columbus. Presented by Lincoln Theatre Association, the event is free, with advance ticket reservations required at https://tickets.capa.com/12118.

Free; advance reservations required

The documentary explores the Lincoln Theatre’s place in Columbus cultural life through its history, community impact, and memorable Backstage performances. It brings attention to the local artists and neighborhood connections that give the theatre its meaning, inviting audiences to consider how a stage can preserve a city’s collective memory.

The film’s historical focus reaches beyond performance to the King-Lincoln District and the Near East Side, including East Long Street and Mount Vernon Avenue. Its themes connect music and community with the pressures of redlining, desegregation, urban renewal, and freeway construction. These subjects offer a local lens on larger questions: how cultural communities are built, how public decisions reshape them, and how their stories endure.

Produced by David Maurice Bailey and John Ray, the film is a Basement Deep Media Group project with Ful-Ray Productions. Bailey’s creative work spans filmmaking, editing, photography, choreography, visual art, and music, informing his approach to documenting the relationship between artists, place, and community memory.

For local media, the screening offers opportunities for arts coverage, a filmmaker profile, a conversation about Black Columbus history, or a feature on the Lincoln Theatre’s continuing role in the city. Interview requests, visual requests, and inquiries about the film should be directed to Bailey. Interviews with additional participants and filming at the theatre must be arranged separately.