A talented group of Parsons New School of Fashion Design students had their graduation show here at Bennett Media Studio’s 1st floor space for live events. The designers configured the gallery space into a curved fashion runway, at the same time utilizing the stage as a raised platform for VIPs. The event was a blast for both designers and audience. Check out the slide show to see all the outfits! Enjoy.

Bennett Media Studio launched its own comedy series – Fat Eddy’s Comedy Joint!

We had a successful opening night on July 16, with a lively audience who were engaged and who laughed with us throughout the evening!

Thank you again to our sponsors: IZZE sparkling juice and TERRA FOSSIL wine for making Fat Eddy’s Comedy Joint a successful and enjoyable event for all.

Here are some pictures from the event:

For a full album, go to Fat Eddy’s website here!

If you missed our first show, be sure not to miss it the second time! The show date and poster will be coming up on BMS’s blog and on Fat Eddy’s Comedy Joint website (www.fateddyscomedyjoint.com) soon. So come back for more!

Esther Chae performed her one-woman show, So the Arrow Flies, here at Bennett Media Studio on May 14, 15, 16. She performed four different characters,and miraculously went in and out of four monologues, which thread seamlessly and intertwined into a wholesome story of love, identity, betrayal, and war. Her timely representation of racial identities and conflicts aroused such emotional response among the audience.
To me, she was riveting and enjoyable to watch for 1 hour and 10 minutes,  on all three events.
As the story unfolded, her intensity and range of emotions was wonderful to watch and experience.
And after each performance, we had a different “Artist Talkback” discussion on 3 different main topics.
I hosted the first evening discussion, and enjoyed the conversational ” give-and-take”  in what proved to be an intimate setting.

Here are some of the photos taken on the first evening’s performance.
All photos by Evan Cohen.

So the Arrow Flies at Bennett Media Studio from Bennett Media Studio on Vimeo.

“So the Arrow Flies” is a one-woman play written and performed by Esther Chae
Slideshow created by Yina Ng
Produced with Aperture 3
All photos by Evan Cohen

Bennett Media Studio

Presents

Esther Chae’s SOLO PERFORMANCE “SO THE ARROW FLIES”

A North Korean spy. The Korean-American FBI agent that chases her down. Who will get hit first?

WHAT: Award winning actress Esther K. Chae presents SO THE ARROW FLIES for three nights May 14- 16^th, 2010 at Bennett Media Studio in the West Village. SO THE ARROW FLIES is a solo performance piece about four characters whose lives intertwine: the North Korean spy, the Korean-American FBI agent that brings her down, a grandmother who is a survivor of the Korean War and the spy’s young daughter who is half Korean-half Caucasian. With only a turn on a chair, Esther K. Chae plays the following four dynamic roles. This show was previously presented at the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the World Women’s Forum (Seoul). Each night is presented by a special guest host and will be followed by an additional 30 minute talkback with the host and creator/performer Esther K. Chae.

Fri 5/14 @ 7pm Hosted by Ed Bennett (President of Bennett Media Studios; Former CEO of MTV Networks’ VH-1)

Sat 5/15 @ 7pm Hosted by Maria Di Dia (Vice President at Theatre Management Associates; Award winning production company of STOMP)

Sun 5/16 @ 3pm Hosted by Jeannie Park (Former Executive Editor, People Magazine; Founding President, Asian American Journalists Association-New York)

Each night’s post discussion will explore post-9/11 themes of conflicting political and social ideologies between North Korea, South Korea and the US, how we see ourselves as immigrants and/or Americans, government sanctioned torture, and how changing political tides affect 4 intergenerational mother-daughter relationships and ultimately love for one another. “Amazing and beautiful show”- David Henry Hwang (Tony Award winning author of M Butterfly)

“Chae skillfully absorbs the audience into a world of espionage and deception …fascinatingly gripping” – Edinburgh ThreeWeeks festival e-magazine.

WHERE: Cultural hotbed Bennett Media Studio 723 Washington Street NYC http://www.bennettmediastudios.com

WHEN: Friday, May 14 – Sunday, May 16. Each evening opens 30 min. prior to show-cash bar for Friday and Saturday evening performance, tea for Sunday matinee. A brief audience Q&A with the guest host and creator Esther K. Chae following the show. (Press interviews will be arranged upon request).

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: To RSVP for the event, attendees should email rsvp.saf@gmail.com

ABOUT ESTHER K. CHAE

Esther K. Chae is an international award-winning actor/writer based in Los Angeles and New York. Her artistic work has been seen and heard in the US, Korea, Ireland, Australia, Canada and Russia. Her numerous credits as a performer include TV shows NCIS, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, The West Wing, The Shield, ER; and theatre stages such as Yale Repertory Theater, La Mama, Mark Taper Forum/ Kirk Douglas Theater, P.S. 122 and Harvard/A.R.T. Chae’s performances have been lauded as “talented” (Variety), “engaging” (Hollywood Reporter) – and may just “break your heart” (Asia Pacific Arts). Her life in Hollywood has been featured in a Korean Broadcasting Station (KBS) documentary.

Her most recent solo performance So the Arrow Flies, about a North Korean spy and the Korean-American FBI Agent who pursues her, was featured at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (“a powerful and compelling script… fascinatingly gripping-ThreeWeeks Magazine), Ars Nova Theater Festival (NY) and the World Women’s Forum (Seoul). In 2009, it was invited to TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference of which she is an inaugural fellow, CUNY’s Martin Segal Theater and NYU’s Performance Studies. Chae graduated from the Yale School of Drama with an MFA in Acting, the University of Michigan with an MA in Theater Studies, and Korea University. This fall, she is excited to be honored with the Emerging Artist Alumni Award by University of Michigan. She is hot off the airport runway from Abuja, Nigeria where she helped establish the nation’s first film academy and was teaching Acting for Film and Leadership. www.estherchae.com

To view a full album by Ed Bennett, click HERE.

Melissa d’Arabian of the Food Network was here at Bennett Media Studio in Ed Bennett’s kitchen.

Melissa d’Arabian at Bennett Media Studio from Bennett Media Studio on Vimeo.

In August 2009, Melissa d’Arabian won season five of The Next Food Network Star, beating out thousands of hopefuls for the ultimate dream job: her own Food Network show. As a wife and a stay-at-home mother to her four preschool-aged daughters, Melissa embodies family home cooking at its finest. On her daytime cooking series, Ten Dollar Dinners with Melissa d’Arabian, she shares her tasty recipes and $10 promise: four people, ten bucks, infinite possibilities.
Click here for full bio and her personal site

The 3rd Annual Taste of Southeast Asia, hosted by Khmer Legacies, had yet again a successful fundraiser at Bennett Media Studio. This year, about 20 VIPS have signed up for a recipe demonstration in Ed’s kitchen by chef Jay Weinstein (author of Ethical Gourmet: How to Enjoy Great Food that is Humanely Raised, Sustainable, Nonendangered, and That Replenishes the Earth).

Jay demonstrated cooking vietnamese pancake and explained his passion for Southeast Asian cuisine.

After the kitchen gathering, guests moved down to the event gallery space and joined other guests for an evening of Southeast Asian gourmet.

3rd Annual Taste of Southeast Asia 2010 from Bennett Media Studio on Vimeo.

Ed Bennett hosted at his home a wine tasting of Tony Coturri’s Organic wines. They were all so delicious. Co-hosted by Organic WIne Journal.com founders, Adam, Greg  and the team organized the event, and the wines were a special treat for all attendees.
Akiko from Iron Chef, kept the discussion going on the “terroir” of the wines, while Dusty Wright of Culture Catch graced us all later with some guitar tunes to match the occasion.
Ed just kept tasting and taking photos.

Tony Coturri

Guests enjoying at our terrace

Guests in our kitchen

View the online album HERE

When May Ling first suggested she take a music composition I wrote and turn it into a vocal song, I had no idea how far this project would go.

And surprised I was. She not only wrote some beautiful lyrics and a haunting melody, but she sang it with such heartfelt passion, that the goosebumps were typical.
May then assembled a talented team of artists and friends to produce a magnificent and emotional short film. Director Scott Gabriel and the rest of the team, actors Shing Ka, Cheutine Fong, and the child Princess Lam, were all stars. We filmed 2 of the 3 segments in the Studio and House here at Bennett Media Studio, and it equaled some of the Network Shows shot here (Law and Order, White Collar, to name a few).
Expressing the theme of domestic abuse, the video was produced in conjuncton with the New York Asian Women’s Center, one of the largest NY area domestic violence help centers and shelters. The video became a kick off for the annual campaign for the New York Asian Women’s Center. The official screening of the video also took place at Bennett Media Studio at the annual fund raiser for the organization. At the event, May and I performed on stage as well, a song we co-wrote called “Only An Angel,” also fitting the theme of the evening.

Since then, Scott and May have been showing the film to festivals. It was a winner at the Garden State festival for the “Best Music Video,” and at the Canadian International Film Festival for the “Award of Excellence.” It was also an official selection at Palm Bay’s ’15 Minutes of Fame’ film festival as well as the upcoming SENE film festival in Rhode Island. And most recently, it was chosen as a finalist for the 2010 Las Vegas Film Festival on June 4th, 2010.

May Ling was happy to pass along some anecdotes to me about some responses:

“At both the SENE Film & Music Festival in Rhode Island and Garden State Film Festival in NJ, many of the professionals in attendance came up and personally commented on how much they enjoyed all of the production, lighting, and the acting.  I had numerous lengthy conversations with people who were truly moved by Shing and Cheutine’s performances.   Without fail audience questions immediately asked how we were able to find such amazing child actors for all of the scenes.   Of course, everyone could not imagine how we were able to get the sets to look so stunning, and realized the amazing amount of attention to detail that must have gone into creating the correct imagery for the house, basement, and shelter scenes. ”

So congrats to the entire team (see below) for this fantastic effort and I am so happy to see the momentum behind this worthwhile project continue.

CAST

May Ling…………Singer
Princess Lam……Daughter, Young Singer
Shing Ka…………Father
Cheutine Fong….Mother
Susan Finch……..Social Worker
Caleb Gitlitz……..Young Boy
Mothers: Lillian Kui, Stacey Van Gorder, Jyoti Singh, Kelly Reeves Susaye Lawson, Emma J, Denise Violante, EJ An
Children:David Kim, Maria Kim, Paige Simunovich, Avery Violante, Kiana Shell Josiah Pujols, Ryan Leung, Wesley Leung

CREW

Scott Gabriel………Director
MinhTu Van……….Executive Producer
May Ling…………..Producer, Songwriter (Lyrics & Melody)
Ed Bennett………..Exec Music Producer, Songwriter (Musical Arrangement)
Sean Nerney………Music Producer
Ryan Halasz………Assistant Director
Milan Habijanac…..Lighting Tech
Douglas Kehl & David Goldfrank….Production Assistant
Reynaldo Carter……………………..Production Designer
Josh Dowd & Curtis Rapp…………..Set Design & Prop Master
Justin Bennett………………………..Key Grip
Rachel Stawinski……………………..Hair/Make-up
Celia Au………………………………..Casting Director
Celia Au& Ha Tran……………………Set Photographer
Nari Kim………………………..Production Assistant

NYAWC Volunteers: Kiko Kitani, Louis Mendoza, Diana Lin, Qiao Gao, Lina Wu, Leana Lung, Linda Shum, Kazuko Ishida
Special Thanks:
Tony Lam & Bun Soho Restaurant

Click HERE to see the official site of the project created by May Ling

Click HERE to see director Scott Gabriel’s creative reel.

And here it is, “Someday” by May Ling Lai

3^rd Annual Taste of Southeast Asia

to support Khmer Legacies

celebrating the Theravada Buddhist New Year

7 – 11 pm

Thursday, April 15, 2009

Bennett Media Studio

725 Washington St. New York, NY

$75 in advance

$85 at the door

$100 for private chef cooking lesson starting at 6:30 pm with Chef Jay Weinstein, editor of Southeast Asian Flavors.

Registration is available at  http://khmerlegacies.eventbrite.com/

**** all tickets sold on this site will receive a free copy of New Asian Cuisine, a cookbook with over 100 recipes from celebrity chefs.******

For more information about the event, contact info@khmerlegacies.org or call 917.538.9644

Below is a poster/newsletter from Khmer Legacies, the co-host of the 3rd annual Taste of Southeast Asia:

About the Khmer Legacies:

Khmer Legacies is a non-profit organization whose mission is to document the Cambodian genocide through personal videotaped testimonies.  We use these testimonies to further education and awareness about the Cambodian genocide.

Check out last year’s Taste of Southeast Asia Event at Bennett Media Studio: