The Rainbow Room, a poignant, fictional comedy/drama inspired by a series of real life events endured by its author and director Sara Kumar whose encounter with Myxedema Madness during 2008 is sure to astound, will have its world premiere at Theatre Unlimited in North Hollywood, CA March 20 - April 11, 2010. The Rainbow Room is the first production of the newly formed Paragon Arts, a Los Angeles based non-profit organization dedicated to using the performing arts to find solutions, overcome barriers, and uplift the human experience.
"There are moments in life that jolt you off the steady path; slam you into deep, dark waters, and leave you hanging out to dry on a power line," says Sara Kumar. "As jarring and dehumanizing as these experiences can be, they provide us with the terrible but sometimes wonderful opportunity of choice. How we choose to emerge from these moments, define us as human beings. And, as artists, we can choose to repaint these ugly and painful scenes on bright, humorous, magical canvasses." The Rainbow Room is just that!
After graduating Magna Cum Laude from Rice University in 2003 as Valedictorian of her class with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Sara Kumar worked as a plant engineer at a chemical manufacturing company for four years and then later as a high school chemistry teacher at a charter school for low-income minority students in Houston. While maintaining full-time jobs, she also served as the Managing Director and (then) Artistic Director of Shunya Theatre, a non-profit Indian-American theatre company based in Houston. She wrote, directed, and acted in numerous productions over a six-year period.
On June 15, 2008, Ms. Kumar set out for Los Angeles to begin a new job as an Instrumentation and Controls Engineer; and to pursue her artistic interests in music and theatre.
In August 2008, Sara began to experience light-headedness and fainting. After one such incident at her office, she was taken to a hospital Emergency Room by a co-worker. There, she was treated for dehydration and instructed by her internist to take a blood sugar test. Thinking these symptoms would simply go away, Sara went back to work and continued her normal activities.
On the afternoon of October 26, 2008, Sara went for a routine, daily jog. She began feeling light-headed while running and stopped at a nearby stranger's house to get some water. Sara began speaking in a manner incomprehensible to the owner of the house. Feeling faint and uneasy, she laid down in the front yard. The paramedics and police were called. It was clear to everyone at the scene that Sara was not responding normally to questions and while being taken to a hospital emergency room, she became paranoid and agitated. She was (again) tested for everything, including drugs, which were negative. Three of Sara's friends were called to pick her up at the Emergency Room. Sara's friends drove her to have dinner and then home to get some rest. They observed extremely unusual and out-of-character behavior at the restaurant that evening but thought that perhaps Sara would improve after getting some sleep, so they left her in her apartment by herself that night.
What happened the night of October 26, 2008 was the beginning of an incredibly painful nightmare for Sara Kumar. The paranoia, agitation, and confusion from earlier in the day turned into a full-blown psychosis. Sara was found behind a locked door in her bedroom by 911 rescue workers at about 10:30 pm that night, kneeling beside her bed playing the violin and chanting unintelligible phrases with severe second and third degree burns on her legs and hip because of setting fire to a pile of clothes around her.
Sara was, once again, taken to the ER, chanting and seemed completely unaware of the pain of the burns. While in the ER, she was questioned by a fire investigator. Still in an altered state of mind, Sara told the fireman that she had burned the pile of clothing and also herself in order to save the world. The fireman used this statement as the basis to file a police report against Sara without questioning what led up to the incident, nor trying to understand, investigate, and/or follow-up on Sara's medical condition and need for treatment. Nor was Sara was questioned by the police after this. Instead, she was taken to the Burn Unit of USC County Hospital to get treatment for her burns.
At USC County Hospital, she continued to behave abnormally. Doctors assumed that she had schizophrenia. A psychiatrist was called to the unit on consultation to visit with Sara. He decided to order a thyroid test before making any diagnosis. At last, it was determined that Sara's thyroid level was dangerously low and the probable cause for her bizarre behavior. Sara was diagnosed with Myxedema Madness (a condition caused by "extreme" hypothyroidism which mimics schizophrenia) and was immediately given 200 micrograms of Synthroid to bring the thyroid level back up and to prepare her for the necessary plastic surgery for her burned legs and hip. A week later, the Synthroid was reduced to 100 micrograms. With the medication bringing her thyroid level back to normal and the attention given to her by family members who came in from Texas, Sara's behavior and thought patterns also returned to normal. The psychiatrist who treated Sara believed that this thyroid disorder was the physiological cause for her psychotic episode. Though Sara has a family history of relatives with mental illnesses and thyroid disorders, she had never before suffered from any such illness or symptoms.
