A local actor who was able to overcome addiction to go onto a successful career on television now has a one woman show chronicling her journey.
Mary Goggin, a Pelham Bay local and working actress for two decades, overcame an addiction to heroin and is now staring in a one-woman show about her recovery that she would like to perform in the borough.
Goggin is the author and performer of the play, based on her own experiences, called ‘Runaway Princess: A Hopeful Tale of Heroin, Hooking and Happiness’ that is being performed at the FRIGID New York festival through Sunday, March 10.
She said that it chronicles her growing up in Throggs Neck before when it was less developed and her subsequent plunge into a world of drugs and prostitution before ultimately coming clean and winning a hard-earned sobriety.
The Bronx is a character in the play, with places like the Throggs Neck waterfront and a sunken boat offshore, a candy store at Miles and East Tremont avenue, and an overpass over the Throgs Neck Expressway where she first tried drugs all making appearances in the performance –named or unnamed.
While much of the material is gritty, she hopes that viewers find an uplifting message of redemption, as the character reunites with her daughter and mother after years of estrangement.
“I hope people take away some hope, especially with the opioid crises and more people addicted to heroin,” said Goggin, adding her desire that people view the show as honest and funny.
Rather than wait for someone to write a role for her that encapsulated many of her experiences, she decided to write the play herself, said Goggin, who has been sober for over 30 years.
She is eager to find a venue to perform Runaway Princess, which has only minimal props and the actor’s own presence, in the borough.
“I would love to find a theater in the Bronx and do this show here,” said Goggin, adding “It would be great to encourage recovery and healing in the Bronx.”
