June 14, 2009 – You may know her as the high priest Annas in the Pistarkle Theater production of "Jesus Christ Superstar," or the prissy Miss Adams in "Miracle on 34th Street," or belting out a song for friends over a guitar or a washboard.
Or, on a rare occasion, you might find her sitting quietly on her Frenchtown gallery, musing over the gifts with which she says she has been blessed.
"The focus of everything I do," says Kate Rake, musician, actor, graphic artist, sand-reader, "is to benefit the beholder. With talent comes responsibility."
Rake sits on that for a moment before giving off a characteristic burst of deep laughter.
"Wow," she says, "I'm not Ghandi-ish, but I do believe in giving back."
Rake moved to St. Thomas about 12 years ago, like so many statesiders, sort of on a lark that didn't pan out. Now, the island has become her home.
"You bloom where you are planted," she says. "For me, the ocean has replaced the mountains of the Southwest where I was raised."
Cherokee and Irish by birth, Rake says she is "native American in spirit." This soon becomes evident.
Gesturing to a bright red rubber band on her wrist, she says. "This supports the White Bison 40-day, 6,800 mile 'Journey for Forgiveness.'" The walk, she says, is a multi-tribal journey to visit Indian schools to help mend the decades of abuse of Indian children.
"Kids plucked out of their environment, robbed of their culture," she says "It's intended to remove the resentment in the Indian community, ask the government for an apology, forgive them, and then it's over. We need to do that, and move on."
"I know, because that's how it was in school," Rake says. "I was made to feel ashamed of my heritage."
Rake, however, had something precious at home.
"I was born into music. I had three Cherokee uncles; one played guitar, one banjo and one the violin, and my mom played the accordion. I've been singing or playing ever since I can remember."
Rake is candid about her musical gifts, which she views with boundaries. She is fond of saying, "I'm not a musician; I'm an entertainer." At that, she is a very versatile "entertainer." Graphic evidence of her love of music hangs on her living-room wall, everything from a wooden flutes to a tambourine and a washboard.
Washboard? A laugh.
"Yes, I play it with cymbals on my fingers, it's like a little bluegrassy, or Cajun thing." Though not a professional musician, Rake has home jam sessions with pals who play anything from the violin to the autoharp, with Rake playing whatever's handy.
The group has now taken a backseat, however, while Rake explores her new love: acting.
She still marvels at the "Superstar" experience.
"Acting just came naturally," she says. "I love telling a story – it's an opportunity to bring happiness. We moved so much when I was growing up, I was always the new kid in school, I had to kind of conform, become another person."
Assuming another identity, Rake says, "requires a discipline where you draw from a place you might not have realized was there, to become someone you are not. There's no perception of self anymore. In 'Superstar" I was the bad guy, the self-serving Annas in one scene, and the sweet, loving apostle Thaddeus in the other. It was a challenge."
That wasn't her only challenge Rake has a demanding day job, and she does the paperwork for the Seven Minus Seven Art Alliance.
"From February to April we rehearsed five nights a week. It was nothing short of a miracle," she says. "And I found a new family; we're very close."
Rake has her own family of two daughters and three grandkids.
"I'm so blessed," she says. "They call me 'nana-banana.'"
About that sand-reading. Rake grins.
"I'd traveled to Africa, where I learned about throwing stones and bones, which left too much to chance. It came to me in a dream. I woke up, and I was a sand-reader. Really.".
Rake is warm, friendly, diminutive, barely five feet, but, as the song goes, "every inch is packed with dynamite." Though that's a stretch, Rake is intense. She doesn't miss a beat, and she knows who is in charge.
Strolling around Frenchtown, Rake sees a feather and picks it up. "That's Gus talking to me," she says. "The great universal spirit. He's trying to get my attention. He'll point me in the right direction."
Rake has put her graphic arts skills in a card business, with photos of the islands.
"My goal is to familiarize people with the islands, so they'll fall in love the way I have, so someone else can say 'Ahhh, me too.'"
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