Aldercast - My New Last Name

As part of our marriage, my wife and I are changing our last name to Aldercast! Here’s the article from our Wedding Website:

What Aldercast Means to Us

Rather than moving into each other’s names, we decided to start fresh. We wanted a name that embodies who we are, both as a couple and as individuals. We considered combining our last names, but Shuberg sounded too much like Schubert, and Rosenman just didn't feel right.

After months of brainstorming we found the Alder tree; it's a gnarled, knotted hardwood which thrives best in harsh conditions. The wood of the Alder was often used in home-building because it's one of the only woods that becomes stronger when wet and simply refuses to rot. In times of war, the Alder made reliable shields, and its strong charcoal was favorable for smelting metals.

Both the name and the tree intrigued us. For a while we agreed Alder fit us well, but there was still something missing.

We experimented with turning Alder into a compound name. Alderwood didn't really add anything. Aldercraft was too hard to say but was on the right track. We wanted the complete name to be something that encompassed both who we are and what we do.

At last it came to us. Cast! Kaitlyn uses casting processes to make teeth as a dental technician, Ben gets cast in productions as an actor, and we both like to cast imaginary spells in Dungeons & Dragons, LARP, and other fantasy games. Cast flowed well with Alder, and the combined name felt like home to us both.

With this new name, our identities are forming into a unit--still two distinct selves, but joined together to make something greater than the sum of its parts.

My adventures as Ben Shuman have been wonderful and fantastic. I hope the story of Ben Aldercast is just as epic, if not more!

Benjamin Aldercast

is a Los-Angeles based, classically trained actor and singer with experience in multiple mediums. He has held lead roles Off-Broadway, in nationally-recognized webshows, and as a voice-over artist.