Community Corner
Puyallup Fair Offers Cutest Show on Earth
Interactive show features kids and adults from the audience.
A Fine Arts theater-professionally trained actress, Elisa Hays got into children’s theater the way most actors do. “I was offered a job, but I actually love doing it,” she said.
Hays, 44, of Puyallup, has been one of the mainstays at her hometown fair since 1994. She started out being one of the stars of The Cutest Show on Earth, but since 1999 she’s been the owner. The business itself started at the fair in 1992.
The show travels all over the west six months out of the year from Washington and Oregon to Idaho and Montana to Colorado and Texas, performing at various fairs and schools. The show is interactive and educational.
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“I encourage kids to use their imagination to change the world,” Hays said.
The company used to have four groups traveling and performing, but Hays has cut it back to two, even though she said she still could keep all four booked.
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“I downsized because I have a values-based company,” she said. “I couldn’t teach all the actors the way I wanted to. Now I can focus more, and it’s more rewarding. For every actor who’s worked with us they’ve said this is the best training they’ve ever had.”
At the Puyallup Fair she has been asked to perform the Farm Time Tour Show, which fits with the history of the event of course. But Hays also has a Circus, Pirate Adventure and Wild West Show.
Hays, who is being helped at the fair with her daughter, Sarah, and niece, Emily McAntosh of Olympia, said the educational component of the show comes from her own values. She also has done some substitute teaching, and has taught summer theater and children’s theater as well.
During the show, children, and some adults, are picked from the audience to perform. They dress up in various costumes and Hays prompts them to do certain things. She encourages them to let go of their inhibitions and have fun. The stage is set up near the Patch.com tent near Sillyville at the fair.
For more information go to CutestShow.com, call 253-278-6410 or email her at elisa@CutestShow.com.