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Exploding complex questions with precision and play, Lightning Rod Special makes live performance from the ground up.

In a moment when our country is perilously divided, free speech is under threat, and the world is saturated with AI-generated internet content, Lightning Rod Special is creating live, risky, poignant works that contend with today’s burning questions.

LRS in 2025

Lions was a Philadelphia Inquirer Top Pick at the Philly Fringe Festival. Audiences packed the house and left thinking about their relationships with their fathers, the business of dying, and what it means to live a good life.

Nosejob received five Barrymore Award nominations, including Outstanding Overall Production of a Play.

What’s Next

LRS Receives a Commission from Princeton University and The Civilians towards a new comedy around the climate crisis led by company member Alex Bechtel!
An indictment of American mythmaking led by Associate Artistic Director Mason Rosenthal inspired by the current administration and the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

WE MAKE GREAT WORK WHEN YOU MAKE GREAT GIFTS.

With love and Lightning,

Scott, Alice, Mason and Lightning Rod Special

Bigger and Bolder in 2026