The Southern Theatre opened on September 21, 1896, as part of the Great Southern Fireproof Hotel and Opera House at the corner of High and Main streets. It is the oldest theater still standing in Columbus, and the hotel it was built with still operates next door as the Westin Great Southern.
Built before microphones
The room was designed for performers who had no amplification, and you can hear it. Concentric arches spread out from the stage opening and push sound into the house. CAPA's operations chief has compared them to a megaphone and called the Southern the best theater in town for acoustics. It is also the only theater left in the city with a double balcony, and with just over 900 seats, nobody is far from the stage.
That makes it a natural home for acoustic sets, chamber music and jazz. ProMusica Chamber Orchestra performs here, and the room rewards anyone who plays quietly enough to let it work. If that is your speed, browse our jazz and blues calendar.
Two lives
Lillian Russell headlined opening night. Sarah Bernhardt, John Philip Sousa, Al Jolson and W. C. Fields all crossed the stage in the decades that followed, through the years of vaudeville, silent films and motion pictures.
The theater went dark in the late 1970s. CAPA, the nonprofit that runs several downtown stages, acquired it in 1986 and reopened it on September 26, 1998, after a restoration that took about 14 months. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Parking near High and Main
The Southern sits at the south end of downtown, one block south of Columbus Commons. The garages that serve the Commons are the closest big parking option, and metered street parking lines the blocks around High Street. COTA's High Street buses pass right by.
Dinner and other stages
German Village and the Brewery District are a short drive south if you want dinner on brick streets. If you are comparing downtown rooms, the Palace Theatre is a few blocks north on Broad Street, and the Davidson Theatre sits across from the Statehouse at High and State.