This is a little-engine-that-could story. Future Ten 7 calls itself "Too Big to Fail," which is sort of a joke, because the annual festival features 10-minute plays, the opposite of big. But it is in its seventh year, attracting better and better collaborators, indicating stature of a kind.

The festival name abbreviates Future Tenant, the production company, which has something to do with its camping out in a storefront at 819 Penn Ave., holding the space until a bigger tenant comes along. Meanwhile (and let that while continue) it brings youthful culture to the Cultural District.

The name used to have a double meaning, since the festival did 10 plays, spread over two weeks. But this year it's slimmed down to eight, performed both weekends -- which means I just have time to tell you it's a fun program and you can still get there, but only tonight or Saturday.

Of the eight, I'm particularly taken with two. In Gayle Pazerski's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," we meet two Civil War soldiers during a pause in battle. One is clearly gay (the lisp, the hand gestures) and the other is put off. But as the anachronisms accumulate, we realize they're Civil War reenactors, and their very funny interaction broadens to take in many issues of society, politics and culture. Brad Stephenson (originator of the festival and co-producer with Fred Betzner) is incisive and funny as the gay soldier, and Joseph Lyons is an effective straight man (that's a pun).

Short-form drama often tends toward parody, but Carol Mullen's "Sirens" goes even further, burlesquing "Law & Order" (or is it "C.S.I."?) as a lesbian police procedural punctuated by that familiar door slamming (aka the chung chung sound) motif. I don't know how they can keep a straight face -- Diana Ifft as the captain, Hayley Nielson and Maggie Mayer as detectives Smith and Wesson (get it?) and Bridget Carey as everybody else.

That's just two. The six other attractions include playlets by the accomplished Tammy Ryan and F.J. Hartland; directors Joanna Lowe, Don DiGiulio, Todd Betker and Brandi Welle helm two shows each; and there are 20 actors. It's a big evening of small parts, some better than others -- definitely too big to fail.