'Rattlesnake Kate' Takes To Stage To Detail Colorado Woman's Incredible Survival
DENVER (CBS4) – The Denver Center for the Performing Arts has teamed up with a former member of The Lumineers to premiere a musical that is rooted in Colorado history. "Rattlesnake Kate," a show about a Colorado woman's incredible survival in the 1900s, is now showing at the performing arts complex.
"It has been really thrilling to watch this come to life," said Neyla Pekarek, composing lyricist for the show. "This is beyond a dream come true. I always said to people, 'This would be a great musical.' Now it is a musical."
Pekarek, who gained fame during her time with the band The Lumineers, first learned about Rattlesnake Kate in college. Pekarek was attending the University of Northern Colorado in the early 2000s when she visited a museum in Greeley. There, she saw a dress made of snakeskins. When she read about the history of the dress she discovered the woman known as Rattlesnake Kate.
"She became notorious in 1925 when she encountered a rattlesnake migration," Pekarek said.
Rattlesnake Kate, or Katherine McHale Slaughterback, was once riding her horse through the Eastern Plains of Colorado. She had her three-year-old son with her when she came across the rattlesnake migration.
"She killed 140 rattlesnakes and lived to tell the tale," Pekarek said. "And everybody, from that day forward, called her Rattlesnake Kate."
In the years to follow Pekarek started writing songs about Kate. She even dressed as her for Halloween one year. Then the songs became an album and soon after sparked interest from Chris Coleman, Artistic Director at the DCPA.
"The music is just kick-ass," Coleman told CBS4's Dillon Thomas.
Coleman said the DCPA has a long history of seeking out local artists and stories. When the two collided with Rattlesnake Kate and Pekarek, Coleman said the DCPA had to back the project.
"Not only is it a unique story. But, the way it is being told is quite unique. The physicality, the choreography has its own kind of language that is very exciting," Coleman said.
The show is currently on stage at the Wolf Theater in Downtown Denver. It runs just over two hours.
The cast says the story inspires the audiences, especially women, to be authentically who they are.
"There are a lot of stories about men in the west, but there are not a lot of stories about women in the west," Pekarek said.
Rattlesnake Kate is played by three different women. Each actress is of a different age and race. Pekarek said that element allows unique perspectives to make their way into the performance.
"I'm beyond grateful to the DCPA for believing in me, believing in this project," Pekarek said.
If you would like tickets to the show, which is showing through mid-March, visit DenverCenter.org.
