Is the play your thing? Then don’t miss ShowOff 2011, when Camino Real Playhouse theatergoers have not one but seven plays to enjoy (and cast a vote for) during this annual playwriting festival that ends this weekend.

The Playhouse received nearly 225 entries from around the country for this year’s production, according to Playhouse co-founder Tom Scott. Just seven were selected for staging.

Each of the seven plays in the series runs about 10 minutes, each with a different director at the helm. Genres run the gamut, from comedy to mystery to drama to intrigue to musical.

Audiences can count on topical themes, according to frequent Playhouse actor Bruce Alexander, who has written two of the plays being staged. (He recently played the role of crusty patriarch Phil Gorski in the Playhouse production of the holiday-themed Greetings.)

Expect political jokes. Expect overturned conventions. Expect clever writing, deft directing and delicious scenery chomping from cast members.

Above all, audiences can expect a good short story, and for that reason the annual festival has been a near-sellout for several years.

“ShowOff is always a lot of fun, and there are a lot of different types of plays,” said Alexander, who wrote Eureka! and Death of a Salesman–The Musical, the latter under the pseudonym Leslie Shelly Orsino. “I think last year, we ran at about 95 percent capacity.”

Alexander’s Eureka presents topical humor and a rewrite of regional history. Native Americans oppose the Spanish conquistadors, telling the arriving soldiers they have to leave because they’re considered illegal immigrants.

And since it’s every actor’s dream to earn a part in an American classic such as Death of a Salesman, explained Alexander, why not "seduce" audiences in a new way by making it a musical?

That Alexander “hates musicals,” according to Beverly Blake, Playhouse vice president, may also have had influenced his decision. “It’s because he can’t sing,” Blake said with a laugh.

The other five plays that have been accepted to the festival are:

 • It's All In Your Head by Jessica B. Wisniewski of Romeoville, Ill. Anyone who has survived a drama-driven love relationship will recognize the signs of dysfunctional over-dependence in this suspense tale.

 • Grin and Bear It by George J. Bryjak of Bloomingdale, N.Y. This political farce will force chuckles and moans with its tongue-in-cheek jabs at Sarah Palin and Barack Obama.

 • Confessions In A Video Store In The Iowa Summer by Adam Seidel of Chicago. A goofy twist ends this light comedy in the vein of a quirky Twilight Zone episode.

 • Credit Check by Eddie Zipperer of Milledgeville, Ga. As it turns out, you are your credit score, but it means something different in the afterlife, where real estate angels determine the space you’ll inhabit.

 • Counting on Love by Rod McFadden of Walnut Creek, Calif. A young woman decides that a mathematical formula is the most reliable method of finding a compatible partner in this take on computer-age dating.

After each show, audience members are asked to vote for their favorite play using a ballot distributed with their program. After the final show in the series, all of the ballots will be counted and the winning playwright will be announced.

ShowOff 2011’s final weekend performances are at 8 p.m. Jan. 13 to 15, with tickets $18 and $28 on Thursday night and $24 and $34 on Friday and Saturday nights. The Jan. 16 matinee is at 2 p.m., with tickets $22 and $32.