What happens when strangers sit down together, open a box of handwritten questions, and begin talking about the state of America? Lincoln Theater is pleased to present a free screening of “The Work in Progress,” on Nov. 19, a new documentary film, from Midcoast filmmaker Ian Cheney, that aims to answer that question. The film invites audiences to consider not only where the country is headed, but how we might find our way forward together. This free screening also offers audiences an opportunity to hear directly from the filmmaker who will be providing a talkback following the film.

 In “The Work in Progress,” people from different generations, backgrounds, and geographic regions come together for candid conversations about American democracy, identity, community, and the country's future. Guided by questions posed by executive producer Robert Reich, participants are encouraged to consider the America they see today alongside the one they still believe is possible. Conversations are interwoven with footage of Americans at work in woodshops, laboratories, fields, boardrooms, recording studios, theaters, and beyond.

The message is simple but profound: America can work because, in many ways, it’s already working. And a central part of the work ahead is to reclaim the practices of dialogue, debate, compromise, and perhaps most importantly, listening, so that we might find our footing again.

 Ian Cheney is an Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker whose 15 feature films include "King Corn" (2007), "The City Dark" (2011), "The Search for General Tso" (2014), "Picture a Scientist" (2020), and "The Arc of Oblivion" (2023), a collaboration with Werner Herzog. A graduate of Yale University and the Vermont College of Fine Arts, Cheney has also been a MacDowell Fellow and a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. His photography has appeared in Orion magazine, and he makes his home here in Midcoast Maine.

“The Work in Progress” will play Thursday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. The event is being offered to the community as a free screening with general admission. Lincoln Theater is located at 2 Theater St. in downtown Damariscotta. More information is available through the theater’s website at LincolnTheater.org or by contacting the theater at info@LincolnTheater.org or 563-3424.