The "oh, you mean my real name?" incident

[auntiem]

I mentioned this incident briefly in another thread but here is the whole story.
One of my clients is a theatre company that books tickets to go to the Fringe Festival every year. Every year there is drama within the company - usually from one of the actors (big surprise). Two things to note: this company is across the country from me and I used to tour manage for them so many of their actors know me and know I “don’t suffer fools easily”. On particularly bad years (they decide to bring musicians or an actress is a particular pain) the company will fly me over for a week mid-run to basically be my own bad self.
Actor - a professional performer (male or female)
Actress - [ my Momma said if you can’t say anything nice….]
The company has very clear and well written contracts which require you fill out your legal name and criminal record (sometimes they perform in Canada and you can’t enter Canada if you have a DUI for example) so there are no problems with the airline tickets or tour travel in general.
Cue this particular year - actors are hired, legal contracts are signed and tickets are purchased. Ta Da - a year without drama - yeah! Oh, not so fast - one week before departure the director of the company happens to be out to lunch with one of the actors and happens to see her fill out a check - the name on the check is not the name on her legal contract with the company and hence, also not the name on her ticket. When confronted the girl says “Oh, you mean my real name?”.
Panicked phone call to me.
Panicked phone call to the airlines to see what can be done. Did you know you can put your stage name on your passport? You can. I call the actress to tell her that she has two choices - buy a new ticket in her legal name at the going price and the company would have to eat the cost of the original ticket (I pointed out to the company that if her legal name is also not on the contract they are under no obligation to her whatsoever) or she can hustle her butt down to the passport office to have her passport re-issued with her stage name on it - to which she says - “I have to go there anyways because I haven’t gotten my passport yet”. Yes, you heard correctly.
Blessedly, the airline they were flying on was fantastic and saved her butt. Honestly, all I really had to say was that she was an actress and that pretty much explained it all. She paid a change fee out of her own pocket (which she of course complained about) and the ticket was exchanged for one with her legal name on it - since she didn‘t have the correct documentation to get her stage name on her brand new passport.
The company now requires a photocopy of your passport at the time you sign the contract.
Which doesn’t help when an actor loses his in the bar the night before the flight - which happened the next year.

[strawbabies]

You can actually get a passport without your legal name on it?!?! Whose freakin' idea is that?

[auntiem]

yes and no - your legal name is on the passport and then AKA and your stage name or nom de plume. For example Cary Grant's passport would say Archibald Leech AKA Cary Grant.
Edit to add - so then his plane ticket could have either name on it and be valid.
In this case the actress, although union with film credits did not have the proper documentation with her to get this accomplished. The passport office won't just take your word that it is your stage name.

[strawbabies]

Thanks for clearing that up, auntiem. I'm impressed that you knew Cary Grant's real name, too!

[Sofar]

There's probably certain criteria the name and your uses thereof has to fit to be your offical nom de plume. I probably couldn't get a passport under the name Sofar. Cool idea, though. I didn't know that.