Most performance spaces in Wichita revolve around alcohol – bars and entertainment venues.
But an event late last month at Century II provided a safe, sober space for people in recovery to perform and showcase their talent in front of thousands of others.
“There's so many people who have gotten caught up with drugs and alcohol in their life, who are just talented people,” said organizer Victor Fitz.
Fritz organized this year’s event along with Harold Casey from the Substance Abuse Center of Kansas.
“Where people can learn, you can go and have fun, and you don't have to drink and you don't have to get high,” Casey said. “You're going to enjoy yourself and support other people.”
Artists from across the Midwest auditioned for the show months before.
Tony Lee and Michael Beno are musicians from Wichita. They performed an original song called “My Fixation,” which Beno said is about his relationship with drugs. But it’s written in the context of being in a toxic relationship.
“The pain and frustration of like she treats you like … but you love her anyway and you can't find her sometimes – and the chase.”
The struggles with addiction and the hope found in recovery were prevalent themes in performances throughout the night.
Part of that hope was the second chance Recovery Idol provided many of the performers that night, allowing them to again do what they once loved.
“Basically just proving like, we can get back in it,” Beno said. “No matter where you go… if you stumble… you can get back to where you were.”
Not all the performers were singers. Nicholas Hoof is a dancer from Overland Park.
He said he danced throughout his school-aged years, but when he got into his addiction at age 20, he lost his passion.
Now, just after his 26th birthday and more than a year sober, he’s performing again.
“My anxiety is out the roof because I'm like, ‘I'm about to be on stage again in front of all these people,’ ” Hoof said.
Despite the nerves, it’s also his way of inspiring others in the community.
“I feel like that's what it's about,” Hoof said, “fellowship and service work and just helping each other stay strong because addiction is [an] everyday battle.”
Like Hoof, singer Cheyenne Martin said she got into music at a young age – by the time she was an adult, that was gone.
“As I got into drugs and alcohol and living on the streets, I kind of forgot about my passions,” Martin said. “I felt like I was just sitting still in one place.
“And when I got clean, I heard about this Recovery Idol thing. I was like, ‘This is a chance for me to at least help one person, even if it's just one person in the crowd.’”
This year’s performance is the third time Martin has performed in Recovery Idol.
“What I've wanted ever since I first got into recovery is just to be able to help the next person realize that you're not always going to be stuck in the same place,” she said.
In its ninth year, Wichita’s Recovery Idol is the only one in the nation. A similar event used to be held in Philadelphia, but it has since disappeared.
Despite that, organizers say they hope the event will take off elsewhere across the country to help more people in recovery like this year's performers, including Diane Wegner.
Wegner is a third-grade teacher from Omaha and in long term recovery.
“My dream in life was to be a rock star,” Wegner said. “I had a couple CDs and I had a band and I moved to California to try to make it big. And it didn't work out that way.
“I got really heavy into drugs and alcohol. And I just thought maybe this is a second chance.”
Like others who performed that night, Wegner said she saw Recovery Idol as a way to give back, but she also saw it as an opportunity to take her music to the next level.
Being back on stage and performing in front of others has replaced the rush Wegner said she once felt while she was using.
“When I'm on stage, it's just like… when I took my first drink. I was like, ‘[sighs] I'm here’ … and then getting sober and being on stage, it's like what I was meant to do.
“I've been playing music since I was three. And it's just, it's who I am.”
For local treatment and substance use resources and information, visit kmuw.org/substanceuse.
