Imagine an episode of "Seinfeld" in which half the characters are gay, Kramer wants to simplify his life a la a Buddhist monk and George has found true love with a shark.

Then you've got the gist of "Swimming in the Shallows," a quirky comedy that New Ground Theatre is presenting through the weekend.

The Adam Bock comedy entwines three couples - the inexplicably doubly named Carla Carla (Lora Adams) and Donna (Kimberly Furness), whose commitment ceremony hinges on the latter quitting smoking; Barb (Susan Perrin-Sallak) and Bob (Pat Flaherty), who hit an impasse after Barb decides she wants to live as simply as a monk, with only eight possessions; and Nick (Eddie Staver III), who finds his true love, the resident shark (Rob Sullivan) at the aquarium.

The Seinfeld-ian aspect of "Swimming" comes from the sudden minutiae of the dialogue, as well as keeping several storylines in the air at once.

New Ground artistic director and show director Chris Jansen maintains a lively pace in which several characters simply pivot onstage as they go from one scene to the next.

Between her direction, the actors' performances and Bock's script, there are thankfully and refreshingly no gay stereotypes to be found among any of the three homosexual characters.

Adams, who could teach a course in playing middle-age neurotics, is nicely paired with Furness, whose role ranges from flighty to abrasive.

Perrin-Sallak and Flaherty don't play off each other too often since she is an interested bystander to both couples and he provides dry commentary with a single word.

And Staver, continuing to expand his repertoire of character styles, excels as the human half of the shark couple. Sullivan's early scenes are excellent as well, with lines that came as if from "The Far Side."

Like several other recent area productions, the 2005 play left me wanting more. It clocks in at a tidy 70 minutes, but only scratched the surface of the characters.

Still, the bizarre blend of reality and quirks - which concludes with a goofy wedding dance - should be enough to keep theatergoers happy.

There may have been deeper messages in "Swimming" than what I picked up, but it was still enjoyable at its surface.