Jay Sefton’s Unreconciled Journey Continues at the Academy

Actor and producer Jay Sefton spoke to me this morning from Cincinnati, where he was staging another production of his one-man show, “Unreconciled,” which tells the painful story of his growing up with a predator priest and the cover-ups that brought the whole church under fire. I was lucky to see the birth of Jay’s remarkable show in 2024, which was co-written with Mark  Basquill.

Unreconciled originated at Chester Theatre Company, has since toured to Los Angeles, New York, Pennsylvania, Cape Cod, and Ireland, and is now expanding under The Unreconciled Project, a newly formed 501(c)(3) that is building a national and international touring life for the play.

Jay remains excited about his show, in which he plays four different characters, and said that many of the people in Cincinnati said they were coming three, four, or even five times.

People have told Jay that they saw different things that they missed the first time, and that the show ‘feels like it was ten minutes long,” despite its perfect, n0-intermission 80 minute runtime.

One critic told the humble actor that this was ‘The best he’d ever seen,” after one of his performances. The critic has a point…I can’t remember a more dramatic and impressive one-man show that kept the audience completely raptured for the show’s duration.

The talkbacks of that first show in Chester were interesting, with many audience members asking Jay questions. Now, Jay said, the talkbacks have become a key part of the show, getting longer and more involved with a moderator and a few famous panelists. For the show coming up at the Academy of Music in July, well-known author Bessel van der Kolk will join Licia Sky for the discussion. He is famous for a book he wrote, “The Body Keeps Score,” and is an expert on abuse and trauma.

The talkbacks in Ireland were especially provocative, Jay said, with lively discussions and a public that only more recently has had some of the same issues with members of the clergy and abuse. Jay said that without the press coverage he got in his early days, the show wouldn’t have made it this far. The topic requires fortitude in the audience and bare honesty on stage.

Jay is excited about the future of ‘Unreconciled,’ which will include a run at New York City’s La MaMa theater in 2027.

Jay Sefton stars in Unreconciled at the Academy of Music, Saturday, July 25, 7 pm. Tickets here.