Giving voice to Sacajawea

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s detailed records of their perilous voyage of discovery took little note of the Shoshone teenager who served as their translator. Sacajawea, a fur trapper’s young wife, not only endured the same hardships on that epic trek west, but she also carried her baby on her back while doing so.

That much is known, but with little else on record, myth has filled the gap. In her new play, “Stone Heart: Everyone Loves a Journey West,” a professional Native Voices production at the Autry National Center, Cherokee playwright Diane Glancy seeks to humanize the legend.

The result of her well-researched attempt, sparely directed by Randy Reinholz, is a chamber piece for four voices, not always harmonious, too earnestly educational to be fully resonant, but at times alive, in words and movement, with unexpected melody.

“I shake my oars, which are wings, but I do not fly,” says Sacajawea (Thirza Defoe).

York, Clark’s slave (soulful Jed Reynolds), thinks of his wife: “If I could write ... I would tell you of a land no black man has seen. I have named the wind after you.”

These are the two voices that predominate, lesser in the eyes of the 19th century white world, but strong in self-realization by journey’s end. This shift of emphasis means Lewis and Clark (both played by Tim Glenn, not always with a discernible difference) are more often the observed than the observers. Their quirks supply much of the humor.

Yet, with each character sealed in his or her narrative bubble, exchanges between them play awkwardly, while Defoe, effective in moments of wry humor and quiet reflection, has trouble finding her way in and out of her character’s fevered emotional outbursts.

The actors, often in tableaux, work on a mostly bare stage against the backdrop of scenic designer Susan Scharpf’s stationary set piece, a striking, sculpture-like mountain range whose peak is the profile of the enigmatic Sacajawea. It provides an effective canvas for R. Craig Wolf’s dramatic lighting effects: sun glinting off water, storms and the northern lights.

Patrick Shendo-Mirabal’s score for Native flute, cello, fiddle, mandolin and African drums is performed live with fellow musicians Charlie Otte and Stephen Green, providing an often haunting soundscape.

That the play doesn’t achieve the level of Native Voices’ triumph of last year, “Kino and Teresa,” a reworking of “Romeo and Juliet,” could be pegged to its educational vibe, but a sense of work-in-progress lingers, leaving room to dig deeper.

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“Stone Heart: Everyone Loves a Journey West”

Where: Autry National Center, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles

When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; student matinees, 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays

Ends: March 12

Price: $20

Contact: (866) 468-3399, www.ticketweb.com

Running time: 90 minutes