"Ten Playwrights, Ten Plays, Ten Minutes Each" is the claim made by "Future Ten 5," so named because this is the fifth year of the spunky little new play festival -- little in both senses.

The 10 are split between two weeks, and last week the first five came in on target at about 50 minutes, maybe a few minutes over, but only because it took extra time to pack everyone into Future Tenant's storefront alternative art space in the Cultural District at 819 Penn Ave. So be warned and don't come late, particularly because there's beer available.

And don't let that "cultural" label put you off. With beer and comedy predominating and productions with the improvisatory feel of having been cobbled together without extensive rehearsal, the product is more entertainment than art.

This year's twist is that all playlets are supposed to have a Pittsburgh theme. But on the basis of the first week, that hasn't been enforced with any rigor -- Dean Lundquist's "I Can Tell Your Handbag Is Fake" wasn't touched by that requirement at all, nor (I think) was Joshua Elias Harmon's performance art parody, "Eat Your Art Out."

In Cheryl Games' "Onus on Us" (cute title), there was one good Picksburg accent; Sloan MacRae's "Singlish" is all written in one-word sentences, which might be a Pittsburgh mode; and Joseph Lyons' "On the Inherent Dangers of Having Colleges Located Next to Each Other" has fun with Pitt-CMU robotics competition.

You can guess who wins that competition, because Future Tenant is the name of the alternative art space, which is managed by students from CMU's M.A. Arts Management program.

The staging is primitive but direction and acting are game and sometimes pretty good. The real hero is producer Stacey Vespaziani, who puts it all together.

Last week there was also a funny warm-up competition between a Steelers fan and a Colts fan, which was a lot more fun than the eventual football game.

But that was last week. This week's lineup is Kim Z. Dale, "Baby XL"; F.J. Hartland, "What the Puck"; Courtney Seiberling, "Cupcake's on the Couch"; Walter Thinnes, "Happy Birthday, Leonard"; and Gayle Pazerski, "Begin the Peregrine."