While the Boston Red Sox took their final bow last week, come Saturday there's a new batch of Sox in town. Well, not entirely new.
Their roster will be 16 strong, and their uniform hot pink. They'll be stepping up to the plate with quick thinking and fake accents, and their manager might be more aptly titled "President of the Los Angeles Tufts Alliance." Sometimes, to alleviate an awkward moment, they may even say "swing and a miss."
Tomorrow night at 10 p.m., alumni from Cheap Sox will return to the Hill for a reunion show with current members in Goddard Chapel. Cheap Sox, Tufts' only improv troupe, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. In 1985, founders Lori Schwartz and David Kahn (both LA '87) put together a show called "Cheap Sox and Violence" (a play on "cheap sex and violence"), and the name stuck.
Tomorrow's event has come together thanks to the coordination of alumna Andy Gall Schmitt (J '90), Alumni Relations President Jonathan Kaplan, associate professor Downing Cless, and current Sox director Alex Sherman.
The idea has been in the works since spring.
"We had a big event in May [in Los Angeles] and people were coming out of the woodwork," said Gall Schmitt, president of the L.A. alumni network. As these Jumbos talked, they realized Cheap Sox's platinum anniversary was coming up and nothing had been planned.
Gall Schmitt contacted 80 Sox alums via email, asking them to return to their alma mater for a homecoming show. With 16 positive responses, a show was born.
Where do improvers go after graduating?
"They are often drawn to the comedy meccas," said Gall Schmitt. The Sox returning this weekend hail from L.A., Chicago, New York City and everywhere in between.
Some graduated when current Sox were still playing 4-Square and cultivating an undying love for Toni Braxton, while others, like alumna Stefanie Schussel, graduated as recently as last year.
Tomorrow, the returning Sox will convene at a meet-and-greet in the afternoon. Alums will get to know each other (or catch up after all these years) and meet the current Sox.
"I think they'll be interested to see what we're doing now, and we're very interested to see what they're doing now," said sophomore member Steven Wise.
While a room has been reserved for practice space, "in true improv fashion, just about everything will be planned a few hours before Saturday's show," said alumna Molly Erdman (J '96).
The show, titled "Dirty Old Sox," doubles as an anniversary performance and as the fall show for current Cheap Sox. Current members will start off the event with the group's old hands and the newest pair of Sox, freshman Padden Murphy and sophomore Suzanne Burstein. Then, the older members take sole possession of the stage.
"The second set will be short form or long form, depending on what the alumni want to do," said Gall Schmitt.
If all goes as planned, at evening's end all the Sox, old and new, will come together for what Wise describes as "an overall jam."
Though improv performances are typically done by a group who has worked together before, the Sox aren't worried.
"There can be great moments of spontaneity and surprise when you throw a new group together. I think it will be a lot of fun because, for the most part, no one knows what's in everyone else's bag of tricks," said Erdman.
Some returning members have been out of the improv scene since their time at Tufts, while others made a career of it. There are, says Gall Schmitt, "a lot of actors and a lot of writers, but people go off and do other things too, like become doctors." Erdman, on the other hand, is a member of Chicago's famous Second City troupe.
"Cheap Sox made me realize that improv was what I wanted to do," she said.
Returning Sox were asked to pack their signature pink bowling shirts. Does Erdman still have hers?
"I sure do, in a box under my bed," she said. "But I like to consider it to be salmon, rather than pink."
