Theaters Around Rochester

Sit back, relax, and enjoy a show on stage or screen. Rochester’s theaters range from historic auditoriums and intimate playhouses to multiplex cinemas and drive-ins. Programming includes Broadway productions, concerts, comedy, films, and community performances. Most offer refreshments on-site or are within walking distance of bars and restaurants, making an afternoon or evening out easy to plan.

And be sure to check out a high school musical!

City of Rochester

Eastman Theatre, built by George Eastman in 1922, includes the 2,326-seat Kodak Hall, home of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, along with Kilbourn Hall and Hatch Recital Hall. The Eastman School of Music presents hundreds of performances each year, many of them free. Visitors can also admire the historic architecture and Dale Chihuly’s glass chandelier in Wolk Atrium.

Dryden Theatre, the George Eastman Museum’s 500-seat cinema, screens a different film nearly every night. Programs draw from a collection of more than 28,000 titles spanning the history of international cinema, including nitrate films presented in their original format.

The Little Theatre on East Avenue screens independent, foreign, first-run, and classic films. Its café offers food, drinks, live music, and art.

Geva Theatre Center presents classic and contemporary plays and musicals in an intimate setting. Major shows, including the annual production of A Christmas Carol, are performed on the 522-seat Wilson Stage.

Fun fact, Geva (as in Geva Theatre Center) is a portmanteau of Genesee Valley. Like Brangelina, Brexit, Bollywood, and brunch.

Blackfriars Theatre on E. Main Street is an intimate 126-seat theater offering a variety of plays and musicals, as well as the Hourglass Play Reading Series.

West Herr Auditorium Theatre is a 2,464-seat Art Deco venue where the Rochester Broadway Theatre League presents touring Broadway productions.

The Theater at Innovation Square is a renovated 700-seat downtown venue hosting concerts, dance, comedy, theater, film, and local arts organizations.

Comedy @ The Carlson hosts national touring comedians in a dinner-and-show venue with table seating for 325 people.

Kodak Center on W. Ridge Road is a 1,968-seat theater hosting touring concerts, comedians, and family-friendly productions.

Roc Cinema on Clinton Avenue, opened in 1914, is Rochester’s oldest movie theater. Today, this dine-in theater serves a full food and bar menu delivered to your seat.

Monroe County

OFC Creations Theatre Center in Brighton presents professional musicals, cabaret, comedy, dinner theater, and youth productions in its 260-seat theater and adjacent 110-seat Old Farm Café.

Callahan Theater and Beston Hall at Nazareth University host concerts, theater, dance, lectures, and community events. Callahan Theater seats 1,000, while the 550-seat Beston Hall was designed for large instrumental ensembles.

Hart Theatre at the Louis S. Wolk JCC in Brighton is home to CenterStage Theatre, a professional company presenting plays and musicals with Rochester-area performers. The venue also hosts professional children’s theater, film screenings, touring artists, and other cultural programs.

Cinemark Tinseltown Rochester and IMAX in Gates offers first-run movies on 16 screens, including the region’s only IMAX theater, with spacious reclining seats and optional D-BOX motion seats for select films.

Strand Theater in Brockport shows first-run, single-feature movies. Opened in 1908, it is among the oldest continuously operating movie theaters in the United States.

Greater Rochester

Vintage Drive-In in Avon offers double features on four screens.

Silver Lake Twin Drive-In in Perry is adjacent to the Charcoal Corral, where visitors can enjoy miniature golf and dinner before watching a double feature.

Fort Hill Performing Arts Center occupies a restored 1928 school auditorium and offers an intimate setting for live music, theater, dance, and public talks. Its varied schedule brings touring acts, regional performers, community productions, and cultural programs to Canandaigua.

Bristol Valley Theatre in Naples is a professional 196-seat theater producing a summer season of plays and musicals from late June through mid-August.

Smith Opera House in Geneva, opened in 1894, hosts music, theater, film, and talks. Inside, the atmospheric auditorium evokes a Moorish courtyard beneath a twinkling, star-filled sky—part of an opulent transformation completed when the building became a movie palace in 1931.

Constellation Brands–Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center (CMAC) in Canandaigua presents concerts at its seasonal outdoor amphitheater, with covered seating and an expansive lawn.

Darien Lake Amphitheater in Darien Center hosts major touring musicians during its seasonal outdoor concert series.

Surrounding Counties

Merry-Go-Round Playhouse (The REV Theatre Company) in Auburn presents a summer season of professionally produced musicals. The playhouse occupies a converted carousel building in Emerson Park on the shore of Owasco Lake.

Landmark Theatre in Syracuse opened as Loew’s State Theatre in 1928. The restored movie palace now hosts touring Broadway productions, concerts, comedians, and family shows.

Shea’s Buffalo Theatre opened as a movie palace in 1926 and retains an elaborate interior designed by Tiffany Studios. The theater anchors Shea’s Performing Arts Center and hosts touring Broadway productions, concerts, comedy, and other live performances.

Which are your favorite performing arts theaters?

I’d love to hear from you—please reach out and share your thoughts and experiences.