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Sometimes opportunities are once-in-a-lifetime. Rocco Amato, from Broad and Wolf streets, decided his window of opportunity wasn’t fully closed.
“I fell into the acting thing. I just enjoy it so much and I was on the road until the very early ’90s doing theater. And my family was getting larger,” Amato, 64, said. “I was sitting on New Year’s Eve in a theater in Ohio on the phone with my family to wish them a happy New Year. This was not the life for me.
“I got my kids and I want to see them. I want to enjoy them while they’re growing up. So I quit. I left the theater and came home.”
A fulfilled lifetime later and having spent time raising his five children, Rocco’s wife, JoAnne, passed away.
“My youngest daughter, who was a professional actress, said, ‘Why don’t you get back to theater?’ My children are very supportive. They said get up and go do something,” he said.
In the wake of his grief, Amato began to look for auditions. He came across a listing in The Philadelphia Alliance for older actors and went out to read for the part. He was later cast as Jerry in the Society Hill Playhouse’s production of “The Men of Mah Jongg,” which can currently be seen at the theater through April 17.
“[Deen Kogan] did a fantastic job casting this. Everyone in the play, a part of them is in the play. Something in that play has happened to us in reality,” Amato said of the four-man piece that features three Jewish friends trying to bring back to life a fourth pal who recently lost his wife. “Even though I am Italian and not Jewish, we have so much in common as a group. We’ve been through the same things, experienced the same type of losses, spent our youth hanging on the corner. It’s really nice. It’s an enjoyable cast and they’re very good at what they do.”
Jerry Rosenthal, Rocco’s persona, is a free spirit who continues to entertain aspirations of becoming a singer, despite his increasing age and decreasing ability to hear. He also dates a 20-year-old suspected hooker.
“I was a singer, professional vocalist. I still do a little cabaret work but not all that much,” Amato said. “I’m a happy-go-lucky guy. It’s just unbelievable how close to the character I am.”
Amato was born and raised on 16th and Latona streets, where he attended the now-defunct St. Reed and currently co-ed St. John Neumann schools. Upon graduation, he did “what all kids in the ’60s and ’50s did: Formed a doo-wop group and sang on the corner and at parties,” he said.
“I’ve always been an actor, always done some form of entertainment. When you live in South Philadelphia and you’re young and Italian, you’re expected to sing.”
Holding various jobs, including time in the service, Amato eventually learned a trade as a mechanical design draftsman.
“I helped design and build and modify heavy machinery. I worked in the nuclear industry for a while,” Amato, who learned everything on-the-job, said. “I went to work for the Westinghouse Electric Corp. when I was 20 years old. I was trained and learned how to be a draftsmen. Now you go to school for it.”
But the performing beckoned and eventually Amato found himself in regional theater and traveling extensively with the productions. He also was involved with lucrative voice work.
“I got a job as a television spokesman for Mr. Goodbyes. I did over 300 commercials,” he said.
By the time he felt himself miles away from family on the New Year’s holiday, Amato had racked up a large list of places he’d visited. Throwing in the towel seemed like the natural decision, and Amato returned to the area to spend time with his family.
With the death of his wife and his children grown and starting families of their own, Amato has found a new dedication to his craft.
“I’m very glad [to be back in theater]. It’s just a great thing. Otherwise I’d be sitting here twiddling my thumbs feeling sorry for myself and that’s no way to live,” Amato said.
Instead, the performer takes the stage nightly and has further projects lined up down the road. Family is still an important part of the equation though.
“My son and his fiancée came, my oldest son and his wife, my daughter and grandson and my other two girls are coming on the third,” Amato said of his children seeing the current production. “They all come to see everything I do. They are very supportive.”
Performing in an older-skewing play is the perfect fit for Amato as he begins the second leg of his acting journey. The thespian said audiences love the first-time Philadelphia production and his greatest joy is “just making people happy.”
“Until I drop dead I’m never going to stop doing this again … I tend to enjoy doing what I always loved and my wife always loved it, also. She was a dance teacher for 20 years,” he said. “I just do it ’cause it’s a passion. It’s an obsession. I could be feeling terrible. I could be sick. Soon as I get to stage, there is nothing that bothers me.
“Soon as I hit the stage, I’m perfect.” SPR
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