Full Synopsis

“The Oasis” is a small side-street café. Business has been slow, so Charlie the owner, has found a unique way to bring in more business. Each Wednesday night he holds a party for some specific group of people; last week it was for nurses. This week he’s invited members of a singles dating club (Single File). He has concocted a special drink for them which he calls a “Double Entendre” and it’s a pretty potent potion. Becky, the maternal waitress is not happy about the effects of Charlie’s strange beverages.

It’s 9 PM and Wally “the professor”, a nightly regular, is already at the bar. He’s a cynic about everything and everybody, which is not good news for Sidney, a very naïve Single File member. Sidney enters proudly wearing his “Compatibility Name Tag” and carrying a secret decoder. Sidney is “fair game” and Wally gladly takes advantage of the situation. Two more regulars, Vinny and Jane enter. They’re “a couple” but it’s an uneasy relationship, and they find every reason to squabble. Tension and dread consume the place as Jake and his mousey girlfriend Jessica enter. He’s loud and he constantly mistreats Jessica. No one is happy about it – thus Jake gets a lot of razzing. Jessica spends half of the evening whining and complaining, and everyone’s trying to find a way to make her stop!

After a while, two more hapless Single File members enter with their name tags prominently displayed. Samantha is a refined and proud woman, while Tina is a tacky, gum chewing “broad”. But somehow they’re still friends – for a while. Throughout the evening more customers arrive. Everyone gets entangled with everyone else’s business. Love begins for some and ends for others; conflicts and jealousy arise; egotism and insecurity abound; crazy and humorous incidents occur, and throughout it all, “small talk” is the currency of the evening.

By closing time the customers at the café have experienced a metamorphosis. Is it the Double Entendres? Is it Becky and Charlie’s nurturing ways? Is it self awareness?  Or is it just another wacky night at the Oasis?