Jordan Essoe Depicting the scene in the “Amanda Transcending” play where Amanda De-Cuys is taken from her home are, left to right, Cody Larsen as Corporal Bensell, Ashley Stovin as Amanda, Riley McKay as Amanda’s daughter, Julia, and Dean Peterson as Amanda’s husband, A.P. DeCuys. “It’s a hard story for Whites to hear,” says the character of Ray in the play.

By JORDAN ESSOE/YachatsNews.com

YACHATS – The capstone to the weekend’s Amanda Bridge dedication festivities were Saturday and Sunday performances of “Amanda Transcending,” a two-act play that re-enacts the catastrophic events of Amanda’s expulsion, but also features a fictionalized version of advocate Joanne Kittel as one of the main characters.

The work hasn’t been performed since 2018, and it is the first time it’s been staged on the coast.

The play alternates between scenes that take place in 1853-1864 and more recent scenes detailing Kittel’s pursuit to educate herself and the public about the dark truth of what happened to coastal Native Americans in and around Yachats and at the Alsea Sub-agency.

The play was written by Connie Bennett, who was inspired by both Amanda’s plight and the Kittel’s work to tell her story. Kittel helped craft some elements of the play, and, informed by her work as a psychotherapist, wrote a sequence where the characters discuss the impact of trauma.

Jordan Essoe Brett French, left, as Ray, and Barbara Covell, right, as Joanne Kittel, perform Saturday night in “Amanda Transcending.” Kittel has seen several women portray her in this role. “They were very good actresses, but they were much younger,” said Kittel, 72. “I wanted someone mature. After all, I started this project in my forties.”

Diary entries read during the play are factual excerpts from an account written by a member of the armed party that marched a barefooted Amanda De-Cuys up the coast, but there is creative license taken with other details. Notably, the character of Ray – a tribal council member who serves as Joanne’s partner in pursuing the Amanda cause – is a dramatic amalgamation of several real people, including Robert Kentta, cultural resources director of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

The play was directed by Yachats pianist and composer Milo Graamans, who brought some of the actors in from Eugene and Salem.

“It was essential that we get Indigenous actors for our Indigenous roles,” said Graamans.

The full cast only had one opportunity for an in-person rehearsal, which they did Friday before performances Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. Therefore the production took the form of a staged reading, with actors carrying scripts in hand.

Carol Daviscourt, a volunteer with Yachats Rural Fire Protection District who served as an on-site paramedic during the bridge dedication, was surprised to see her friend Kittel depicted on stage by an actor. It took her a few minutes to adjust.

“During the dialogue, I just kept hearing Joanne’s real voice in my head,” said Daviscourt.

Barbara Covell, who played Joanne, also knows Kittel’s voice and mannerisms well. They’ve been friends for 25 years, and she was a confidente of Kittel’s during many of the contemporary events the play retells.

“It was very powerful,” said Kittel of Covell’s performance, who recommended her to Graamans.

Jordan Essoe **Joanne Kittel and actress Barbara Covell share a moment after Saturday night’s performance of “Amanda Transcending.”**

The play ends with the reading of over 30 names of Native Americans who arrived with Amanda at the Alsea Sub-agency in 1864. Following that is a harsh industrial clanking of doors slamming shut.

“People get really sad, and have trouble clapping right away,” said Kittel, who initiated the applause Saturday evening, breaking the terrible silence the play leaves the audience with.

It was appropriate. Breaking the silence is not only the theme of the play – but of Kittel’s decades of tireless work.

As Kittel’s character says in the play, “You can’t take steps toward healing and reparations until the story is told.”