JOURNEY TO HEALING
San Anselmo woman's chronic illness inspires theatrical show
Q AASara Nesson is no stranger to loss. Since being diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome — an incurable condition — eight years ago, she's had to grieve the life she once knew, leaving the job she loved, mentoring Jewish teenagers, and coming to terms that her life wouldn't look the same as it once did.
Navigating the unknown, the San Anselmo resident and lifelong creative decided to return to creative pursuits at midlife, first learning how to draw and sculpt, and then returning to her love of theater. For the past two years, she's performed online “The Broken Mishkan” — mishkan is the Hebrew word for “sacred space” — her personal theatrical piece, about growing up in a secular Jewish family in Massachusetts and her experiences with a chronic illness. She performs the 23-minute theatrical work online at 4 p.m. Sunday through the Dance Palace in Point Reyes Station. Admission is $15. Get tickets at dancepalace.org/event/the-broken-mishkan-the-broken-mishkan-performance-community-conversation-online-via-zoom.
Q Were you nervous sharing such a personal work?
Nesson is spearheading a new It's in the nature of theater initiative to promote greater visibility and acting, being and equity for disabled accustomed to being vulnerable. artists in Marin. And I had been writing about my experiences living with chronic illness for some years, primarily on Facebook with a growing number of friends around the world I had met through visual arts classes and writing classes. I realized when I opened up and told the truth about my losses, my hopes and my experiences, it caused other people to share their similar experiences and this rich dialogue would happen. I did not
When did your interest in theater begin?
Since I was a little girl. I studied drama at a conservatory in Los Angeles and later toured with A Traveling Jewish Theatre. There's something about creativity and spirituality that is linked to me and has been important to me as far back as I can remember. That's at the heart of a lot
of what I am doing, especially now.
start out being so open with my illness when I first had to stop working. I felt self conscious and ashamed. When I realized a lot of people feel the same living with chronic illness, I felt I have to speak up. These things have been my ticket to continue to have a joyful life.
Q
A
It occurred to me, I can't exercise, I can't get out or do a lot, and visual art was the one thing I never took a class in. I didn't think I had that gene, I thought I had just the performing arts gene, but I always thought drawing looked like so much fun. It launched me on this path that was so
What made you choose art later in life?
much fun, to learn new things at midlife and to discover a joy for something that you didn't know about. It has been another way to bring me back to life, to share part of myself in these classes. The visual arts led me back home, to a place I didn't think I would go. The pandemic made life more shuttered, fewer places to go, but I've been able to make a world and a life for myself, partly because of the online connections and new friendships that I have had through the arts.
Q
What do you hope with this initiative?
A
I was feeling isolated and I was aware that there are other artists with disabilities or chronic illnesses who might be feeling isolated or haven't shared their stories or art. It's so easy for people like that to become invisible in our culture, and this project is about those artists becoming more visible.
Q
How has your Jewish faith played in your healing and work?
A
There have been times over the years when singing Jewish prayers to my own music every day was helpful to me. Maybe not initially right after I got sick, when I felt cut off from everything, including my way of being Jewish. I was a Jewish youth mentor and that was the way that I expressed my Jewish identify. So for awhile I felt kind of lost, including spiritually. But it me hit fairly early on that my spirituality, influenced by Jewish and Buddhist practices, helped me see things as they are and to be compassionate to myself and my experiences.