My Pet Dragon
A Broadway-style musical about a girl grappling with addiction may seem an unlikely hit, but My Pet Dragon, presented in Dallas Nov. 11, will have you laughing, crying and singing along. Spoiler alert: the girl in the story “slays” her addiction before the final curtain.
My Pet Dragon was the graduation project of Maggie Moe, who finished Tisch’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at New York University. A couple of her professors were so taken with her work that they backed it and are aiming to see it debut on Broadway. Moe uses the metaphors of a girl and a dragon to share aspects of her own story – she became addicted to prescription painkillers while battling a chronic illness. She’s been sober now for six years.
Moe’s story of addiction is much like that of thousands of other young people in America. More than 20 million people ages 12 and older reported having a substance abuse disorder in 2019, and only 10% of those were receiving care according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration. Nearly 108,000 people died of drug overdoses in America in 2021, a 50% jump over 2019 according to the CDC.
My Pet Dragon will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11 at the Dee and Charles Wyly Studio Theatre. Tickets are $25 and may be purchased online here, with 100% of sales going to CARE-Dallas. CARE provides education and awareness about substance abuse disorders and serves as a resource for individuals and families struggling with addiction in North Dallas.
