Berkshire on Stage

The Egg is hosting the five star Australian collective Pony Cam this weekend performing the hyperkinetic, nerve tickling workout called Burnout Paradise.

Burnout Paradise has played the Edinburgh Fringe, St. Ann’s Warehouse and the Astor Place Theatre just this past June before its stop on the Empire State Plaza. It’s been 13 years since I’ve seen any theater in The Egg (Our Own Productions performance of Spring Awakening in the Swyer Theatre) so I leapt at the chance to catch Pony Cam as soon as this show was announced.

Alas! or Huzzah! depending on your point of view, this is proudly Performance Art as William Strom provokes the audience with the question after a few minutes of their shenanigans “Do you think this piece is more theater or performance art?” And the audience overwhelmingly shouted “Performance Art!!”

Four performers will try to complete an absurd amount of tasks in 48 minutes all while running on a treadmill striving to run 18.3 kilometers as a group. There are four stations for each treadmill representing a different aspect of the individuals lives delineated by cardboard signs that hang off their treadmills-Social, Admin, Performance and Leisure. Of course, the most difficult and numerous tasks are in Leisure as we amuse ourselves to death.

Our host, the delightful and winning Ava Campbell, introduces the setup and rules to us and she also explains the stakes. If the company fails to complete their tasks or run the prescribed distance, the audience will receive their ticket price refunded, she said, fanning a stack of bills in the air.

Ava also serves as host, timekeeper, statistician and water girl or Gatorade girl ferrying ice blue energy drinks to anyone in the audience who shouts out an order. She has also encouraged introductions to your seat mates. I was able to congratulate my neighbor Simon on his duck hunting personally.

The audience is encouraged to climb up on stage and help the performers complete their tasks with some professional members of the audience being heavily relied upon. Like the sous chef who was used all evening long to assist the three course meal being made in Social or the MFA holder who was instrumental in completing the grant application for the group to perform at Avalon Lounge in Catskill. He suggested the venue, he’s friends with the owner.

Of course, the most fun tasks are in leisure but be careful, if you call out “Sunscreen” you will be called up to slather the team member with the lotion. Best to choose “Down a cold one” or “Shoot hoops.” This whiteboard had at least 15 tasks and kept the audience hooting and hollering throughout the evening as the team tried and repeatedly failed to toss a ball into a small net 50 feet away…until they succeeded! And the crowd goes wild!

This segment reminded me of the Sunday morning kids show of the 70s, Wonderama, as I seem to recall audience members called out of the audience to compete in wild challenges.

There is also the recognizable workaday functions in Admin where we are uploading CV’s, budgeting and crafting a mission statement. Social chooses two diners from the audience and makes them a pasta in red sauce and vegetable side within the 48 minute game time.

Performance allows each team member to entertain us with their own skill. The magnetic Dominic Weinstein changes into a bathing suit and carb loads a bowl of Krave in a hilarious and impressive recreation of his childhood. Chan Lin folds paper swans at her family’s restaurant, William Strom recites variations on “To be or not to be” and Hugo Williams plays us “House of the Rising Sun” on synthesizer. Remember, all these performers are also running about 1.5 kilometers every 12 minutes.

Every break, they play Juice Newton’s “Morning Train” and the curtain call is followed by Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard for Her Money” hitting the rat race theme on its head.

We are told by Egg Executive and Artistic Director Diane Eber before the doors open that this is not theater as we are used to. We are going to be encouraged to participate, get out of our set, yell and scream. House lights stay on and make sure you leave your phone on to take photos of the show which will be emailed to Pony Cam and downloaded to the grant application.

It is a silly, giddy hoot of a show that flys by at just over an hour and is a great restorative break from your own burnout. Paradise found!

Pony Cam presents “Burnout Paradise” at The Egg on the Empire State Plaza in Albany NY, October 15-18, 2026. CAST: Ava Campbell, Chan Lin, William Strom, Dominic Weinstein, Hugo Williams.