Panel discussion to follow autobiographical play about clergy abuse

Jay Sefton presents his one-person play, “Unreconciled,” at the Academy of Music on July 25.
Photo credit: Google Meet

NORTHAMPTON — This July, Easthampton resident Jay Sefton will stage a production of his one-person show “Unreconciled” at the Academy of Music in Northampton.

The play, about the sexual abuse Sefton experienced as a child at the hands of a priest, will be followed by a panel discussion with renowned author, researcher and educator in the field of trauma treatment Bessel van der Kolk.

“It was really born out of political things that happened in 2021,” Sefton explained. Several times before then, the state legislature in Pennsylvania — where Sefton is from — had considered a constitutional amendment creating a two-year lookback window in the statute of limitations for adults who had experienced child sexual abuse. Sefton said that in 2021, the amendment was as close as it had ever been to being passed.

“I really thought it was going to happen this time,” Sefton said. “When it didn’t, I didn’t know what else to do. I was filled with rage.”

Sefton started writing about his experiences. It began almost as a thought experiment, akin to one writing a letter they never mean to send to someone who wronged them.

“I was in that mindset, ‘I don’t have to perform it.,” he said, explaining he told himself, “There’s a chance nothing will happen with this.”

When the opportunity arose to workshop the play at the Chester Theatre Company, Sefton said he experienced hesitation. It would not be the last time. At each level of the play’s production — when it was first staged, when he performed it at a bar down the street from where the abuse happened in Philadelphia — he encountered another moment of hesitation.

“It’s rather hard to get people to come see a one-person show about clergy abuse, surprisingly,” Sefton said with a chuckle. “I thought no one would want to see it.” But he pushed forward. Unexpectedly, he said, “It started to not become mine.” At the discussion he holds after each performance, people began voicing their own experiences of abuse, some for the first time.

After a production he staged on Cape Cod, a psychologist who was friends with van der Kolk approached him. Van der Kolk is the author of the 2014 book, “The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma,” a popular book about how trauma reshapes the body and brain. The author lives in the Berkshires and after meeting with Sefton, agreed to join him for the discussion panel after the July 25 show.

Sefton said he no longer feels hesitant about the play. “What was born in rage has become a joy,” he said. “I enjoy performing it… The play doesn’t feel like I’m screaming into the void anymore. It feels more profound than anything else I’ve done on stage.”

Reflecting on what he wants people to take away from “Unreconciled,” Sefton said he wants them to have a full theatrical experience, filled with a wide array of emotions. “I would like survivors to feel heard and seen, if that’s possible,” he said. Sefton also wants people to be moved to urge their legislators to support legal mechanisms that provide an opportunity for adult survivors of child sex abuse to have their day in court.

In the Massachusetts House of Representatives, bill H.1829 would eliminate the statute of limitation in civil child sexual abuse cases. Current law provides a limit of 35 years to bring a civil suit for child sexual abuse “or within 7 years of the time the victim discovered or reasonably should have discovered that an emotional or psychological injury or condition was cause.” Sefton said that in the case of clergy abuse, the Catholic church lobbies legislators to protect their institutions.

Sefton said, “It’s not good for survivors. It’s not good for communities.”

Having performed the play at venues around Western Massachusetts, Sefton said the Academy of Music show will be likely the last time the play will run in the area. Sefton said he is going to perform in England and Ireland in the fall. After that, the play will run off Broadway.