What’s in a name?

Shakespeare questioned the need of having a name in one of his plays. Times of India asks the same question to tiatrists to find out how and why they got their stage names. Your name is your identity. But what if your identity is over shadowed by your stage name?
Many tiatrists in Goa are better known by their pseudonyms rather than their actual names.Goa Times brings you the real names of some wellknown tiatrists and the interesting stories about how they got their stage names.
Miguel Jacob Carmo Luis Fernandes Stage Name: Prince Jacob He was called the Comedy Prince of Goa after he acted in Rosefern’s tiatr Thapott in 1982. “But I always believed that I am not a star comedian so I dropped the tag Comedy from my name. I kept the name Prince Jacob,” says the tiatrist, who is also the president of the Tiatr Academy of Goa (TAG).
Conceicao Diago D’Silva Stage Name: Connie M Conceicao Diago D’Silva opened ‘Connie M’, a restaurant in Colva in 1983. The restaurateur then decided to dabble in music. He played the drums in a music band and it was here that people would refer to him as Connie M. “Later I started playing the drums in tiatrs and then took to acting. Over here too I was popularly called Connie M,” says Connie M.
Wilson Mazarello Stage Name: Wilmix The three member music band Wilmix was formed in 1970. “We took alphabets from each of our names like Wil from Wilson, Mi from Michael and X from Xavier to create the band name. We would sing in three different voices,” says Wilson Mazarello. The band stayed together for about a decade and performed at musical shows. Later they disbanded. The music band may not have stayed together but the three friends kept in touch. Wilson entered into tiatrs and took on the name Wilmix. “I remember when we would meet, we would jokingly ask each other ‘what do you mix’? ‘What’s mixing etc?’ remembers Wilson.
Antonio Rosario Fernandes Stage Name: Roseferns He was christened Roseferns by yesteryears tiatrist Rigorio. “There were three actors named Anthony who would act in Rigorio’s tiatr. To avoid any confusion, while addressing them Rigorio thought of giving each a different name. So Anthony John Baptist was renamed Anthony JB, Anthony from Colva was called Anthony de Colva and, “I got the name Roseferns, which is coined from my name and surname,” says Roseferns. The actor believes that this stage name has been very lucky for him.
Ana Maria Apolonia Rebello D’Cruz Stage Name: Aplon “Many people had a problem pronouncing my name because it’s very long. They would call me by different names like Apolina, Aplin and Aplon,” says Aplon. She continues, “I like being called by my name Apolonia, but then since they lovingly called me Aplon, I didn’t stop others from calling me so. I have taken a big time liking to my stage name,” she says.
Fr Nevel L S Gracias Stage Name: Vellekar Fr Nevel LS Gracias staged his first tiatr in the year 1976, in Velim. He was just 12 years! The tiatr was Ek Rukhanchim Tin Follam and was staged under his theatre banner Vellekar Nirmiti (Vellekar Production). Since then he was known as Vellekar. “I was born and brought up in Velim. Perhaps that’s the main reason for getting this name,” says Fr Nevel.
Luis Caitano Coelho Stage Name: Luis Bachchan Luis, whose forte is comedy, may never have imagined that he would be even remotely linked with cine star Big B. In the year 2000, he acted in Agostinho’s tiatr Suseg, in which he played the role of the quiz master akin to the role Amitabh Bachchan plays in Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). The stage set was also designed similar to KBC. “I played the quiz master Luis Bachchan. Since then I was known by this name,” says Luis.