On November 12, 2008, the day of Sara's discharge from the hospital, Sara was arrested at the hospital unit as she was preparing to leave with her mother. Two policemen entered her hospital room and took her downstairs to the police car. Sara and her family had no idea that there was a warrant out for her arrest. No one from the police department spoke with the psychiatrist or the endocrinologist to determine the medical cause for the incident.
Since Sara was being discharged from the hospital that morning, there was confusion on the part of the police department as to where to take her. She still needed medical attention to cleanse and dress the wounds each day since she was post-op and could only walk short distances with a cane. Nevertheless, she was taken directly from the hospital in her nightgown to the Pasadena jail where she was booked. There she was allowed to make a phone call to her parents who told her that she was arrested for arson.
From Pasadena, Sara was taken to County Lynwood Jail (CRDF), some 25 miles away. Sara's cane was taken away from her at the Lynwood jail. She was placed in a holding cell for several hours until she was ordered to march outside with the other prisoners, strip down naked, and put on a jail uniform. Sara did not receive medical attention until the next day. When she was finally examined by the doctor, he determined she needed immediate medical attention for the burns and that she be transported to Twin Towers Correctional Facility nearby. However, transport to Twin Towers was not available until the evening. Sara arrived at Twin Towers very late that night, after which she was transported back to Pasadena to attend her arraignment the following morning. Sara's parents hired a lawyer prior to the arraignment. Upon hearing the complete story about Sara's medical condition, the judge dropped the designated bail of $250,000, released Sara on her own recognizance, and required her to be examined by a court appointed neurologist and to be followed up with psychiatric care as well. Sara was sent back to Twin Towers to obtain a release from the doctors there. After this, she was transported again to County Lynwood. Sara's parents picked her up at Century Station at about 4:00 am on November 15, 2008. She was limping without a cane and holding in one hand a zip-lock bag containing her driver's license, eyeglasses, and a prayer book given to her by a nurse during the ordeal. The other hand was holding up an over-sized pair of men's shorts issued by the Lynwood Jail for her departure.
The official diagnosis given by all the doctors who examined Sara was (indeed) Myxedema Madness (or psychosis secondary to hypothyroidism.) These reports were submitted to the judge and to the various prosecuting attorneys working on the case. The case never went to a preliminary hearing and the charge of arson was dismissed almost six months after her arrest on May 1, 2009 on the condition imposed by the court that Sara nearly $22,000 to the insurance company for its costs incurred due to water damages from the sprinkler system in her apartment and for all personal property she had lost. Sara paid the amount in full. She also fully reimbursed the Pasadena Fire Department's monetary losses (over $2000) for their call to her apartment on the night of October 26, 2008.
As she convalesced, Sara worked part-time from a motel across the street from her work place, and then she returned to work full-time at her engineering job on January 5, 2009. The entire event caused her to begin researching mental illness and to also examine her own family history. She has an uncle in India who has schizophrenia and an aunt in Texas who is a longtime victim of schizophrenia. They each had mental breakdowns in their twenties, but unfortunately their conditions down-spiraled into full-blown illnesses. Although Sara has fully recovered both physically and mentally, the experience has given her an inside view of what life is like with an illness like schizophrenia and how people are perceived and treated in a system that does not understand them. What happened to Sara can certainly be explained in physiological and scientific terms. However, to fully understand something as complex as psychosis, one must listen to the complete story that connects the mind to the heart and to the spirit. Since her recovery, Sara has been able to piece together what happened to her, and she has grown in awareness and empathy for the sufferings of the mentally ill and disabled.
Although she has fictionalized her story, The Rainbow Room is inspired by Sara's very real life events. At the end of the play, Sara has incorporated the poetry of her schizophrenic aunt and the artistic work of her friends who live at Bonnie's Guest House, a half-way home in Pasadena for the mentally ill and disabled where Sara now volunteers weekly. The artwork on the cover of The Rainbow Room theatre program will be created by Sara's aunt, Josefa Vaughan - founder of Artseed in San Francisco, CA - who inspired the character "Josefa" in the play, and who helped take care of Sara when she was discharged from the hospital and released from jail.
"There is no question that mental illness is a difficult problem," says Ms. Kumar. "And as with any difficult problem, there are many possible solutions - medication, therapy, family, faith. With this first production, we at Paragon Arts hope to explore the many solutions that can work together to tackle this difficult problem."
THE RAINBOW ROOM - SUMMARY: A poignant, fictional comedy/drama inspired by a series of harrowing, real life events endured by its author/director Sara Kumar during her 2008 encounter with Myxedema Madness (a condition caused by "extreme" hypothyroidism which mimics schizophrenia.) "Kundana", the heroine of the play, moves to Los Angeles against her parent's advice with high hopes of becoming a screenwriter. Kundana humorously juggles her new career aspirations with three different love interests until an unexpected turn of events send her Hollywood dreams up in smoke. Forced to re-examine her decisions, Kundana learns that the people she was running away from may be the very people she needs the most.
The psychological breakdowns in the play are depicted through dialogue, music, and dance. All of the music presented in the play are original pieces composed by a group of Paragon Arts musicians. At the end of the play, the entire set is transformed into a colorful art display, which incorporates the poetry of Sara Kumar's aunt (who has schizophrenia), and the artistic work of residents at Bonnie's Guest House, a half-way home in Pasadena for the mentally ill and disabled where Sara Kumar now volunteers weekly.
CAST: Maria Pallas, Anup Sugunan, Megan Rose, Maralyn Facey, Kanu Kothari, Karnell Matthews, Marcus Proctor, Ann Marie Morell, and Eswari Raja.
PRODUCTION TEAM: Producer: Paragon Arts; Author and Director: Sara Kumar; Set Design: Jessica Dalva; Props Design: Susanna Wong; Dance Choreography: Eswari Raja; Lighting Design: Sarah Templeton; Stage Manager: Matt Sandlin; Graphic Design: Danielle Buerli; Publicity: Michael Sterling & Associates; Original Music: Sameer Murali, Sameer Vyas, Nithya Thiagarajan, Varuna Gunashekara, Sara Kumar, Anup Sugunan, Stacy Chun, Chanda Dancy, Dheepa Chari, and Alejandro Leda
THEATRE: Theatre Unlimited - 10943 Camarillo Street - North Hollywood, CA 91602
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
Preview - Friday, March 19, 2010 - 8:00 pm
Opening - Saturday, March 20 - 8:00 pm
Sunday, March 21 - 3:00 pm
Friday, March 26 - 8:00 pm
Saturday, March 27 - 8:00 pm
Sunday, March 28 - 3:00 pm
Friday, April 2 - 8:00 pm
Saturday, April 3 - 8:00 pm
Friday, April 9 - 8:00 pm
Saturday, April 10 - 8:00 pm
Sunday, April 11 - 3:00 pm
TICKETS: Tickets for all performances of The Rainbow Room are $18 Tickets and on sale now through Brown Paper Tickets at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/97150, or by calling (800) 838-3006.
PROCEEDS: All proceeds generated from The Rainbow Room will go directly to Narsad Artworks www.narsadartworks.org - an Orange County (La Habra, CA) based arts organization which helps fund scientific research for mental illness. There will be an art exhibit in the room adjacent to the theatre featuring the paintings of local artists who work with Narsad
For more information, visit www.paragon-arts.org
