RESET Comes to Moving Arts Next Month

Moving Arts presents Reset, a Sci-Fi morality play about a man who thinks he’s at a self-help retreat that turns instead into a mind-bending experiment set to reveal the truths of what the future may hold for him. Could his “best self” be the key to mankind’s salvation? Darin Anthony directs the world premiere of Reset by Howard Ho for a four-week run at Moving Arts Theatre in Atwater Village. Performances take place October 28th through November 20th, with previews set for October 26th & 27th. 

About the Show

2020 Chernobyl. Jim arrives at the contaminated site of the infamously dilapidated nuclear reactor to take part in a new top secret life-changing treatment that promises he will attain his “best self.” But what he imagines is a self-help retreat turns out to be less of a day at the spa and more of a mind-bending quantum physics experiment, one that will reveal the devastating truths of what the future holds for him. Could his “best self” actually be the key to mankind’s salvation or to its destruction?”

A 2023 Eugene O’Neill finalist, Reset was developed in the 2021 cohort of the MADlab New Play Development program at Moving Arts, and had a “workshop-plus” staged reading during the 2022 “Plays in Motion” program. Culminating with this world premiere, Reset will be the start of Moving Arts’ pipeline process of developing new work from concept to full production.

Who

The creative team includes director Darin Anthony, Justin Huen lending his expertise on scenic and light design and writer Howard Ho taking on sound design. MADlab Development Program Director Dana Schwartz will produce for Moving Arts. The cast includes Zachary Bones, Greta Jung, Tyler Perez and Carl Weintraub. 

Howard Ho is a playwright, sound designer, improviser, and composer. His play VARIOUS EMPORIA was a 2017 O'Neill National Playwrights Finalist as well as a Finalist in the ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition. His short musical End of the Line (co-written with Kristen Rea and Chris Edgar) was in The Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival and is being published in Theatre Now New York’s Short Musical Anthology. His musical Pretendo was featured in the Center Theatre Group (CTG) Library Reading Series. His plays and musicals have been developed with Moving Arts, East West Players, The Vagrancy, Playwrights’ Arena, Company of Angels, New Musicals Inc., and Playground-LA. His music was recently recognized and performed in the City of Los Angeles concert series, Compose LA, highlighting notable LA composers. He has sound designed over 50 shows and has been nominated twice for sound design at the Ovation Awards. His YouTube channel dissecting music has over 100,000 subscribers, millions of views, and has been recognized by Lin Manuel Miranda and Jon M. Chu. He holds a musicology degree from UCLA and a Master of Professional Writing (MPW) from the University of Southern California. 

Director Darin Anthony is the Artistic Director of Moving Arts in Los Angeles. For Moving Arts he directed: world premieres of @Playaz, Isolation Inn – A Zoom Series, Apple Season, BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!), Apocalypse Play by Cory Hinkle, the west coast premiere's of The Kill-or-Dies by Meghan Brown, Viral by Mac Rogers and The Gun Show by Em Lewis. Other recent productions: Daniel’s Husband at Dezart Performs (Best Director Award DTL) Dinner with Friends at CV Rep, the world premiere of the rhythm and blues musical The Devil You Know for Devilish Productions, and Nureyev’s Eyes at American Stages (FL), and The Bluebarn Theatre (NE). Other productions include New York premieres: The Good Boy at the Abington Theatre and The Incident Report at The Lion Theatre. Regional credits: premieres for La Jolla Playhouse, Unbound Productions, Bootleg Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, The Theatre @ Boston Court, Radar LA, Odyssey Theatre, The Road, The Open Fist, Moving Arts Car Plays, The Blank Theatre, Syzygy, InterACT, Furious Theatre.

Producer Dana Schwartz is an LA writer, director, producer and actress. She is a 2023 member of Director’s Lab West. Her play Presto! was completed with The Workshop Theater in NY and is a 2023 Eugene O’Neill semi-finalist. Her world-premiere play with Moving Arts in 2021, @Playaz, was a 2019 O'Neill Finalist, and her play Early Birds premiered in Los Angeles in 2019. Dana has had plays produced at REDcat LA, Disney Hall, Segerstrom Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Curtis Theater, LACMA, and Iron Skirt Stories. She has directed plays across the country, and performed around the world. She also heads up the MADlab New Play Development Program. 

About the Company

Under the artistic leadership of Darin Anthony, the award winning theater company Moving Arts is committed to creating, producing and promoting adventurous theatrical new work by diverse Los Angeles artists for diverse audiences. Since its founding in 1992, Moving Arts has continuously produced new plays in a variety of venues across Los Angeles, ranging from traditional theatres such as [Inside] the Ford in Hollywood and the Los Angeles Theatre Center, downtown to nontraditional spaces such as LACMA, the Natural History Museum and the parking lot across from Disney Hall, showing remarkable versatility and commitment to the craft of theatre. Many of the new plays we have created have gone on to be produced across the country. For more information visit www.MovingArts.org