Performer John Fleck Reinvents Gothic Horror Genre At Odyssey Theatre

Blacktop Highway: a gothic horror screenplay'd on one man's body - Renowned performer John Fleck reinvents the gothic horror genre in this horrifyingly hysterical tale of taxidermy, transformation and caged creatures. Fleck continues to break new ground playing all the parts (both human and animal) in this brilliantly staged screenplay. Weaving video with theatrical movement and his remarkable vocal gymnastics, Fleck leads the audience into a darkly hilarious world of one particularly unusual family that oddly reflects an American landscape no longer able to distinguish what is "real" from a "simulation" of reality.

Blacktop Highway premiered at REDCAT/LA for one weekend in 2015 and made its critically acclaimed New York City debut at Dixon Place.

Los Angeles Times theater critic Charles McNulty calls Fleck "an expert at riling the unconscious and releasing the repressed like bats in a belfry," while The New York Times says "intoxicating... charismatic... "rapid-fire ingenuity."

John Fleck is a performance artist and actor based in Los Angeles, California. In 1990 he and three other performance artists became known as the NEA-4, denied funding by the National Endowment for the Arts because of religious and political pressure. His critically acclaimed solo shows include Mad Women, which won the 2012 LA Weekly Award for "Outstanding Solo Performance" and was nominated for a Bessie Award; Side EFFlecks May Include; Johnny's Got a Gun; Nothin' Beats Pussy; Dirt; me; A Snowball's Chance in Hell; Blessed are all the Little Fishes; Psycho Opera;and I got the He-Be-She-Be's. A sampling of past performance venues includes the ICA (London); ICA (Boston); The Warhol Museum (Pittsburg); The New Museum, The Public Theater, The Guggenheim Museum, PS-122, Second Stage, La Mama, Dixon Place and Joe's Pub (NYC); and the Broad Stage, REDCAT, Getty Museum, Cal Plaza, MOCA, Taper 2, Evidence Room and Bootleg (LA). Theater credits include Sapo and PEACE (both with Culture Clash at the Getty Villa); Go Back to where you are (Odyssey Theatre); Tobacco Road (La Jolla Playhouse); Atlanta (Geffen Theater); Applause (Reprise, UCLA); A Perfect Wedding (Kirk Douglas Theatre); Noises Off (Cape Playhouse-Dennis, MA); She Stoops to Comedy, Small Craft Warnings, Cringe and Berlin Circle (Evidence Room); On the Jump (South Coast Rep), The Mystery of Irma Vep (Tiffany Theater), The Granny (Old Globe); and The Illusion (LATC). A sampling of John's television credits includes Orville, Criminal Minds, Anger Management, Bones, The Middle, True Blood, Weeds, The Closer, Nip Tuck, Carnivale, Seinfeld, Murder One and Tales of the City. He is one of only three actors who has performed as many roles in all the Sta Trek TV series: The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Voyager and Enterprise. Film credits include Velvet Buzzsaw, Alaska is a Drag, Falling Down, Waterworld, etc. that enable him financial fluidity to create his, not necessarily for profit, performance art.

WHO:
• Written and Performed by John Fleck
• Directed by Randee Trabitz

WHEN:
Nov. 9 - Dec. 15:
• Wednesdays at 8 p.m.: Dec. 5 and Dec. 12 ONLY
• Fridays at 8 p.m.: Nov. 9 (opening night), 16*, 30; Dec. 7, 14 (dark Nov. 23)
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.: Nov. 10, 17; Dec. 1, 8, 15 (dark Nov. 24)
• Sundays at 2 p.m.: Nov. 11, 18; Dec. 2, 9 (dark Nov. 25)
*The third Friday of every month is wine night at the Odyssey: enjoy complimentary wine and snacks and mingle with the cast after the show.

WHERE:
Odyssey Theatre
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90025

HOW:
• (310) 477-2055 ext. 2 or www.OdysseyTheatre.com
• Visit us on facebook: www.facebook.com/OdysseyTheatre
• Follow us on twitter: @OdysseyTheatre_ and instagram: @odysseytheatre

TICKET PRICES:
(Reserved Seating)
• All performances: $30
• Seniors: $25
• Under 30: $22
• SAG/Aftra/AEA: $20
• Students: $17