Circus extravaganzas have long been theater's eccentric, mustachioed cousin—glitterized spectacles for audiences packing peanuts over opera specs. Monkey With a Hat On puts performance back under the big top with a circus-themed Ten Minute Play Festival this weekend. Because, "let's face it, Portland is one big circus," said Ollie Collins, who founded the fest in 2011. True to tradition, some Portland playwrights keep it light with "a comical, screwball, kids-show style whodunnit for adults" in The Curious Case of the Lion Tamer's Missing Head and in Travis Abel's Together, a conjoined-twin love story. But even bawdy Jim Rose fans couldn't resist waxing cerebral: Clowns rejoin the normals, a bearded lady searches for moral support, and, in Cirque du Tomber, a wounded trapeze artist faces an existential free-fall.