CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, April 08, 2026

In ‘Burnout Paradise,’ Running on Treadmills Is Only the Half of It

The New York Times: One night last month at Astor Place Theater, audience members hurriedly hustled onto and off the stage to help four sweat-drenched, exhausted performers jogging on treadmills complete various tasks: shave one actor’s neck, solve a Rubik’s Cube and whip up a pasta dinner from scratch for two audience members to feast on and rate.

1 comment:

Jess G said...

“Burnout Paradise” was performed at the WOW (Without Walls) Festival at La Jolla Playhouse last year. As a San Diegan, I was SO EXCITED to go see it, as I thought the concept was really freaking cool, and I love the WOW Festival! WOW is basically Playground for the LJP performers. I unfortunately couldn’t get tickets, as it was sold out almost immediately due to Pony Cam’s popularity and their super short runtime. This is one of those types of shows that I always find entertaining: people on a time crunch doing ridiculous things for the entertainment of the masses. In this new world of strange, avant-garde theatre, Burnout Paradise is an awesome diversion from the norm of the theatrical three-act structure. We need more performance art like that! We live ij such an ever-changing, fast-paced world. Burnout Paradise is the perfect look or analysis of the ways in which we live now - get it done or lose your money!