Press & Media
Lighting Design:
For The Paper Hat Game
Best Design of 2012, Independent Weekly
"A sense of playful invention permeates this work as Bend, Salvatella de Prada and a cadre of lighting and puppet designers including Jeanette Yew, [R. S.] Buck, Sarah Krainin, Tarish Pipkins and Don Tucker test just how completely they can merge the realms of film, stage and puppetry. This spirit fits the biographical plot..."
-Independent Weekly
For Art Tatum: Piano Starts Here
"Hanley’s stories are reinforced with wonderful images projected above the bar (projection design by Austin Switzer) and by [R. S.] Buck’s excellent lighting."
-Classical Voice of North Carolina
"A huge screen on which pertinent images are projected backs the believably scruffy club setting. [R. S.] Buck's lighting gives the piano a magical glow."
-News and Observer
For ¡Anarchist!
"His character's pretzel logic subdues his prey with cocked eyebrow and poker face—before leaning across designer [R. S.] Buck's footlights to clue us in with a distinctly malevolent grin."
-Independent Weekly
For Limbo
"[R. S.] Buck's delicately muted lighting and painted floor design add a dreamlike quality."
-News and Observer
Scenic Design:
For Molly Sweeney
"...a sense of nearly classic tragedy has enveloped R. S. Buck's simple, atmospheric stage."
-Independent Weekly
For Dancing at Lughnasa
Best Scenic Design of 2010, Independent Weekly
"It's a thoroughly convincing slice of Irish life, and it feels lived-in, from the dialogue to the cast's interactions to the set designed by [R. S.] Buck, Lexie Nichols and Deb Royals."
-Independent Weekly
"On the other hand, the period fashions recreated in loving detail by costume designer David Serxner are quite striking; and the country-kitchen set by scenic designers [R. S.] Buck, Lexie Nichols, and Deb Royals-Mizerk and the snippets of radio broadcasts delivered sporadically — as called for in the script — by sound designer Julie Jones also add authenticity to the proceedings."
-Classical Voice of North Carolina
For Limbo
"[R. S.] Buck's delicately muted lighting and painted floor design add a dreamlike quality."
-News and Observer
For Flee This Place!
Best Scenic Design of 2009, Independent Weekly
"[R. S.] Buck's forbidding dreamscape combined sand, brick, columns and barbed wire in Flee This Place..."
-Independent Weekly
"This inaugural production emphasizes not only the physicality of its actors but also the psychological theater, up close, communicated through striking visuals in stage composition, Deb Bigsby's notable costumes and [R. S.] Buck's unorthodox set design."
-Independent Weekly
For The Paper Hat Game
Best Design of 2012, Independent Weekly
"A sense of playful invention permeates this work as Bend, Salvatella de Prada and a cadre of lighting and puppet designers including Jeanette Yew, [R. S.] Buck, Sarah Krainin, Tarish Pipkins and Don Tucker test just how completely they can merge the realms of film, stage and puppetry. This spirit fits the biographical plot..."
-Independent Weekly
For Art Tatum: Piano Starts Here
"Hanley’s stories are reinforced with wonderful images projected above the bar (projection design by Austin Switzer) and by [R. S.] Buck’s excellent lighting."
-Classical Voice of North Carolina
"A huge screen on which pertinent images are projected backs the believably scruffy club setting. [R. S.] Buck's lighting gives the piano a magical glow."
-News and Observer
For ¡Anarchist!
"His character's pretzel logic subdues his prey with cocked eyebrow and poker face—before leaning across designer [R. S.] Buck's footlights to clue us in with a distinctly malevolent grin."
-Independent Weekly
For Limbo
"[R. S.] Buck's delicately muted lighting and painted floor design add a dreamlike quality."
-News and Observer
Scenic Design:
For Molly Sweeney
"...a sense of nearly classic tragedy has enveloped R. S. Buck's simple, atmospheric stage."
-Independent Weekly
For Dancing at Lughnasa
Best Scenic Design of 2010, Independent Weekly
"It's a thoroughly convincing slice of Irish life, and it feels lived-in, from the dialogue to the cast's interactions to the set designed by [R. S.] Buck, Lexie Nichols and Deb Royals."
-Independent Weekly
"On the other hand, the period fashions recreated in loving detail by costume designer David Serxner are quite striking; and the country-kitchen set by scenic designers [R. S.] Buck, Lexie Nichols, and Deb Royals-Mizerk and the snippets of radio broadcasts delivered sporadically — as called for in the script — by sound designer Julie Jones also add authenticity to the proceedings."
-Classical Voice of North Carolina
For Limbo
"[R. S.] Buck's delicately muted lighting and painted floor design add a dreamlike quality."
-News and Observer
For Flee This Place!
Best Scenic Design of 2009, Independent Weekly
"[R. S.] Buck's forbidding dreamscape combined sand, brick, columns and barbed wire in Flee This Place..."
-Independent Weekly
"This inaugural production emphasizes not only the physicality of its actors but also the psychological theater, up close, communicated through striking visuals in stage composition, Deb Bigsby's notable costumes and [R. S.] Buck's unorthodox set design."
-Independent Weekly
