stsiii efts,. /e .0 4 Arts & Entertainment For Ticket informantion call: 1248-788-2900 Cover Story o' FAX: 248-788-5160 Evelyn Orbach Artistic Director PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF Perfonnanas: Wed.7:30pm (iNed.5-29 2pm matinee only, no _ evening performance) Thur. 730pm., - Sat 8pm - Sun. 2pm & 7:30pm In the Aaron Deroy Theatre, Jewish Ensemble Theatre, 6600 West Maple, West Bloomfield, MI 48322 PRAYERFUL PORTRAITS from page 69 motion picture fame. Not every synagogue Regos photo- graphs is still being used as a Jewish house of worship. "I've photographed a few which have become a charter school, a church, or, in Houston, a performing arts center," he said. One that is still fulfilling its original purpose is Congregation Rodef Shalom of Pittsburgh, said Regos. It was built in 1906 by the architectural firm of Palmer & Hornbostel, whose other noteworthy structures include New York's 59th Street Bridge. Like the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Rodef Shalom is also listed on the Registry of National Historic Buildings. . BY KITTY DUBIN NOW THROUGH JUNE 9TH 2002 FRESH SOUPS, SALADS & CREPES The One & Only Creperie in Town! • Daily Lunch Specials • 10 Gourmet Soups Daily (Save $1.00) available 11-3 p.m. • Savory Crepe Sandwiches Open Monday -Saturday for lunch & Dinner GO • Sweet Crepes • Fresh Salads 172 N. Old Woodward (NE corner of Maple & N. Old Woodward) (248) 283-0260 r • ,./ W..i:VMM 40' 1.11 ■ •• ••• . Buy one entree get the second entree 50% off Monday - Wednesday only Of equal or lesser value. Expires 6/30/02 Dine in only $ 13 95 Includes soup or salad, vegetable, potato and homemade rolls The Artist's Life Hungarian-born Regos is completely self-taught as a photographer. "I wanted to be a photographer," he said, "but I was an only child and my parents said they would disown me if I did not go to university. My father wanted me to get a master's degree. He said it was easy to pack and carry if you had to leave the country in a hurry" After spending his mandatory year between high school and university in the Hungarian military, Regos gradu- ated from the Technical University of Budapest six years later with a master's degree in chemistry. At the age of 26, he was hired by the large Forte Photochemical Co. Ltd. as plant manager of their Eastern European color-processing lab in Budapest, a job he kept until his defec- tion to the United States in 1979. He said he did not leave Eastern Europe for political reasons, but because he felt his career was stagnat- ing in Hungary. Today, Regos lives in Farmington Hills with his wife, Alice, and their 5- year-old daughter, Andrea. His techni- cal background has made it possible for him to operate Spectrum Photo Lab, which he opened in Berkley 15 years ago. The photo lab supports his own photographic work, 95 percent of which is architectural. For his book on historic synagogues, he has photographed five Detroit-area synagogues so far. The faMily attends Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills, and Regos is particularly looking for- ward to photographing the synagogue's two former sanctuaries, both located on Woodward Avenue in Detroit. Back To His Roots Regos' camera also has been focused upon historic synagogues in his 5/31 2002 70 native Hungary. On a visit to Hungary in 2000, he realized that Budapest's city architecture is "a pho- tographer's paradise." "I was struck by how gorgeous the said. "I went back that city is," time as a Jewish architectural photog- rapher. And that combination predes- tined me to do something." That "something" was to photo- graph the beautifully restored world- renowned Dohany Street Synagogue, pictured on this week's Jewish News cover. The second-largest Reform syn- agogue in the world, it was the syna- gogue Regos and his parents had attended before his defection. (New York's Central Synagogue, the struc- ture Regos plans to photograph next month, was built as a replica of the Dohany.) Built in 1859, the Dohany Street Synagogue, is named after the street on which it stands — dohany is the Hungarian word for tobacco. The building's magnificent mosaic and glass ceiling and stained glass windows have been lovingly photographed by Regos. He has also photographed the his- toric synagogue in Szeged, the second largest synagogue in Hungary. It was built in 1903 by Baumhorn Lipot, architect of more than 20 other syna- gogues in what was then the Austro- Hungarian Empire. During that visit, Regos also. trained his camera upon the magnificent Budapest Opera House. At first denied permission to photograph the ornate structure, he asked to see the director. 'As soon as he asked me my name, he remembered that we both used to sing together there in the children's choir, and he gave me permis- sion to shoot," said Regos. Those photographs reflect yet another interest of Regos'— photo- graphing historic theaters. Locally, he has done the Fox, Fisher and Music Hall theaters as well as Orchestra Hall and the MOT Detroit Opera House. And his interest in Detroit architec- ture is not restricted to performing arts showcases. He has also pho- tographed some of Detroit's art deco architectural classics, such as the Fisher and Guardian buildings, as well as the older Penobscot, Ford and Dime buildings in downtown Detroit. Will those also one day become fod- der for a book? Perhaps, but Regos said he also aspires to exhibit his pho- tographs in the Janice Charach Epstein Gallery at the West Bloomfield Jewish Community Center. Until that happens, see Regos' Web site, vvvvw.laszlofoto.com , for more samples of his work. 111 .