The Playgoer: NYT Changing of the Guard

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Saturday, January 27, 2007

NYT Changing of the Guard

Both Rob Kendt and George Hunka are now reporting the Times is changing theatre editors. Rick Lyman is the new man, replacing Patricia Cohen, who is staying on at the paper in other capacities.

Lyman has been a staff reporter for the Times in many, many capacities over the past decade. I remember him beginning as a theatre/arts reporter back in the mid 90s. (I remember him taking studious notes for a never-published piece on a Cicely Berry workshop I assisted on in '97.) He soon switched to a general arts beat, culminating in the "Watching Movies" series (eventually compiled in a book) where he recorded remarks made by great filmmakers as they watched their favorite films. (The most insightful I remember was Soderbergh on "All the President's Men." Woody Allen choosing "Shane" was also a surprisingly revealing session.)

I also recall seing Lyman's byline on a number of straight-news front page stories of late. A journalist's journalist, he seems.

What effect will this have on Grey-Lady theatre coverage? Well, to offer my own journalism 101 insight: "Only time will tell..."

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