SSS_INVALID_ARRAY_ARGUMENT - filters[0]

I'd really appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction on this. It appears that my search filter arguments are not set up correctly.  I have read and re-read the documentation and studied examples and still have not been able to get this to work. 

Thanks!!!!

The offending code snippet:

   var functional_area = nlapiGetFieldValue( 'custevent17' );                     
    var test_cycle = nlapiGetFieldValue( 'custevent15' );                          
    var region = nlapiGetFieldValue( 'custevent6' );                                  
    var result = nlapiGetFieldValue( 'custevent13' );                                
                        
    var filters = new Array();
    filters[0] = new nlobjSearchFilter( 'custevent17' , null,  'anyof' , functional_area);   
    filters[1] = new nlobjSearchFilter( 'custevent19' , null, 'is' , 'T' );                    
    filters[2] = new nlobjSearchFilter( 'custevent15' , null , 'anyof' , test_cycle );