Rochester Native Presents One-of-a-kind Baseball Film and Live Music Program
Rochester native and Grammy-nominated musician Jared Engel brings his Musicians’ Baseball Club of Brooklyn to the Dryden Theatre for The Old Ball Game: Baseball Legends Told Through Film and Live Music. A mix of baseball, silent film, live music, and poetry, the program takes place at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 26, as part of the 2026 ESL Rochester Fringe Festival.
The Old Ball Game continues the Dryden Theatre’s commitment to presenting silent film with live musical accompaniment while bringing a contemporary take on the form to audiences.
The program includes Day of the Catch (2025), about the Grapefruit League’s forgotten and hilarious origin story, and The Mascot Race (2026), a fast-paced baseball story set in modern-day New York. Together, these award-winning, live-scored films explore baseball through history, humor, music, and the distinctive visual language of silent cinema.
“Coming home to Rochester to present my two short films at the Dryden Theatre is a special experience for me,” said Engel. “I grew up and developed my love of film and baseball here, so it’s exciting to return with films that I made myself. The Mascot Race will have just premiered in Brooklyn the week before, so this screening is part of the film’s first tour. Both films were made to be experienced with live musical accompaniment, so I’m especially happy to be able to present them this way at the George Eastman Museum as part of Rochester Fringe, with a great group of musicians alongside me in the pit, live-scoring the screenings.”
Tickets are $15 for nonmembers and $13 for George Eastman Museum members. For more information and tickets, visit https://rochesterfringe.com/tickets-and-shows/the-old-ball-game-live-scored-baseball-silent-films.
