Hyperspecialization = Death

File this one under "All Out Rant."

I have a friend who has cancer. How many doctors does she have? To calculate that number, simply count her organs.

Okay, I may be oversimplifying. But not by much. The hyperspecialization that permeates every facet of our culture is what propels one playwright I know who is also an actor to go by two completely different names.

Our culture is suspicious of those who do more than one thing well. I must admit that for years whenever someone discovered I had multiple talents (and interests) and subsequently remarked: "My, what a Renaissance Man, you are," I heard "dilettante" instead.

The truth is, most of the playwrights or screenwriters I know who I consider really magnificent have a background in some other creative arena, most often they began as actors.

It's time for theatre professionals to stop compartmentalizing the creative process to the point of inanity. Just because the HMOs did it doesn't make it sound thinking.

When playwrights can be directors and directors can be actors and actors can be producers, we'll be a lot better off.

P.S. If my spell-check is to be believed and "hyperspecialization" isn't a word, I say it should be.