Photos of synagogues on display at Herberger

Thirty large-format photographs of synagogues from around the world - some reconstructed, others demolished - will be displayed in the lobby of the Herberger Theater Center during the three-week run of the musical comedy A Jew Grows in Brooklyn.

There is no charge to see Robin Roy's photographs, which will be up from Dec. 24 through Jan. 11.

"The Synagogue Project began as a personal journey to connect with Jews in every country I visited," Roy said. "Attending services provided an insight into the community.

"As a photographer, I also wanted to record my connection. The large formats of the prints let the viewer imagine standing in that place of worship, or on the street in that country, hearing the prayers inside."

Roy spent years capturing the images that are, as she describes, "a testament to the resilience of the Jewish people to survive and worship wherever they live. As with my portraits, my synagogue photos tell their own stories."

Roy grew up with photography. In their father's school of photography, LeRoy Studios, Roy and her sister played in front of the lens, stopping to smile. Later, Roy modeled for her father's fashion business in New York.

Moving behind the lens, she chose a different path. Rather than posed expressions in studio portraits, she prefers capturing the fleeting moment in natural light.

Roy studied printmaking at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Iowa. Her artwork is in collections at the Albright-Knox Museum in Buffalo, the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, N.Y., the Center for the Visual Arts in Oakland, the Berlin Gallery in Germany and in private collections and publications.

She has master's degrees from New York University and the University of Rochester.

A Jew Grows in Brooklyn is the musical journey of Jake Ehrenreich's life from Brooklyn to the Catskills to rock and roll to Broadway as a Baby Boomer boy from an immigrant family pursues the American Dream.

For more on the Synagogue Project, visit www.robinroyphotographer.com.

For more on A Jew Grows in Brooklyn, visit www.ajewgrowsinbrooklyn.com.