Vocation, Avocation & Passion

Francine Wolf at a rehearsal for the upcoming production of Cellmates Confession. Francine Wolf leads a double life — one of show business and the other of service to the Jewish community.

She is producer and star of Cellmate Confessions, an original play opening June 30 at the Straz Center in Tampa and has appeared in professional theater, commercials, infomercials, on the radio and in film. She was a guest speaker at last year’s Tampa Bay Jewish Film Festival and owns the production company ZaZu Productions.

But there is another side to Wolf ’s busy life — Jewish community service. Wolf is the Jewish Family Support Services Coordinator for Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services (GCJFCS).

Brooklyn born and Long Island bred, Wolf has aspired to be on stage since her childhood days of seeing shows at Radio City Music Hall and on Broadway. Growing up, she honed her musical skills and comedic timing in backyard and basement variety shows. Wolf, a classically trained singer, is both a lyric soprano and a Broadway belter.

After attaining a degree in education from the State University of New York in Oswego, Wolf sang and danced her way to the bright lights of Columbus, OH, where she continued to refine her craft.

By 2005, Wolf was a seasoned actor. It was in this year that she started ZaZu Productions, named after the popular actor from the 1920s and ’30s, Zasu Pitts. ZaZu Productions has staged events on cruise ships, at fundraisers, and has held improv workshops. Most recently, ZaZu Productions will be producing the play Cellmate Confessions (in which she also performs) at the Straz Center.

Being a producer is like being a Jewish mother coordinating a Bar Mitzvah, says Wolf. “Worry every day over details,” she said, “kvetching about it, but kvelling over the little victories and accomplishments.”

Wolf’s professional persona

The vivacious Wolf, however, is not always in the limelight. She is the Jewish Family Support Services Coordinator for GCJFCS.

Wolf has spent most of her life working for the Jewish community and worked for the Jewish federation for 18 years. Though theater is her life’s passion, working at GCJFCS is her, as she puts it, tikkun olam.

Wolf ’s responsibilities include coordinating and organizing donations, food drives and the food pantry, Chanukah and tzedakah gift shops and holiday events for Holocaust survivors. She is also the local administrator for the Jewish Educational Loan Fund.

Though Wolf leads a dual life of acting and community involvement, she never does one without the other. As she puts it, she “auditioned” for her position at GCJFCS in 2006, rather than simply interviewed for it. She also said her experiences working with clients have helped improve her acting. “As an actor, you’re always studying behavior,” she says, “and because I’m working one-on-one with clients and because I’m also surrounded by the therapists and counselors working here, there’s a lot to learn. It’s been a great resource in studying human behavior.”

But it is Wolf ’s big showbiz personality that makes her a star with her clients. “I have a way with people,” she says, “especially clients who come in during crisis, saying ‘I’m so humiliated to be here’ — I make them smile and laugh. I think I make people comfortable.”

Wolf is no stranger to the work of Jewish Family Services, as she was once on the receiving end, getting aid from the program she now directs.