The Education Center gears up for a new semester on Longboat Key

It’s back-to-school season on Longboat Key. Classes start Nov. 7 at the Education Center at Temple Beth Israel on Bay Isles Road. But leaving the house is not a prerequisite to learning something new. 

“We’re the only lifelong learning center in this area that does hybrid classes,” Program Director Susan Goldfarb said. “You either sign up for in person or you sign up for Zoom, but it’s the same course.”

Concerts, yoga and gaming classes such as Qigong are the exceptions. The Education Center is open to anyone, regardless of location or religion.   

Many of the class names are familiar from last year’s inaugural semester and years prior when classes were offered through the Longboat Key Education Center, but the content is always fresh.

“Even though the title is “The World’s Greatest Novellas,” we never do the same novellas,” Goldfarb said. “I don’t really have too much repetition.”  

FSU/Asolo Conservatory teacher Jonathan Epstein has taught a course on Shakespeare for the past nine years. The subject depends on which play he’s directing his acting students through. 

“The class has been terribly loyal, maybe a third are newcomers,” Epstein said, “Very often they come and see the play once it’s produced.” 

Love’s Labour’s Lost is this year’s play and class subject. The performance will be held in April, most likely in the Jane B. Cook Theatre, but outdoor options are also being explored.

Epstein says Love’s Labour’s Lost is the “slightest” play he’s directed. “It’s more about the language and use of language than any of Shakespeare’s other plays.”

Epstein would know. He’s worked with Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts for 25 years acting, directing and teaching. Experience like Epstein’s is common amongst the teachers at the Education Center.

“Last year, I had one of the world’s biggest architects for tall buildings,” Goldfarb said. “I get these people because they come here for the season.”