‘Runaway Princess’ spotlights trafficking and addiction crisis
The Fund for Women of Sussex County, in partnership with What Is Your Voice and Philanthropy Delaware, presented New York-based professional actor Mary Goggin in “Runaway Princess: A Hopeful Tale of Heroin, Hooking and Happiness” at Cape Henlopen High School auditorium April 28.
The performance was followed by a panel of experts that discussed what the public can do to help combat the crisis of human trafficking in Sussex County and Delaware. Nonprofits and service agencies in the state and county offered information at the performance to address this issue.
“The importance of bringing ‘Runaway Princess,’ as the head organizer for this event, is to open the communication and bring it forward,” said Jacqueline Sterbach, president and founder of What Is Your Voice. “It’s something that no one wants to talk to. We have to break through those boundaries to free women and children that are caught up in horrible situations. The majority of them are coming and leaving homes of domestic violence and addiction, and sex trafficking/human trafficking, all of that, is a part of that journey.”
She said Mary Goggin’s performance gives audience members a way to visually engage and see what that journey looks like before the panel discusses the facts.
“It’s important that these conversations, hard as they may be, need to be had,” said Fund For Women Sussex County Development Chair Kelly Sheridan. “We need people to know this problem is in Delaware and it’s not being addressed in a manner that fully protects women and girls. We can do better.”
Goggin believes “Runaway Princess” serves the purpose she was born for, to destigmatize addiction and all that goes with it, and drive home the utmost importance of normalizing emotions to connect humanity.
Goggin wrote the one-woman show to highlight her journey to overcome adverse periods of her life. The performance takes the audience from her young life, through poverty and adulthood, where she was a prostitute, drug addict, mother and actor.
An actor for nearly 25 years, she has appeared in numerous stage productions, television series, films and commercials.
What Is Your Voice provides Sussex County with fully trained and skilled domestic violence peer support advocates to empower individuals and children as they work to break free from domestic violence. Its team members provide a holistic approach for their clients’ body, soul and spirit, targeting rehabilitation and community reintegration in all forms by utilizing a multi-focused strategy for self-sufficiency in housing, education and employment.
For more information, go to whatisyourvoice.com.
