Ruthie Scarpino

Ruthie Scarpino is a clown, director, mask, and circus maker hailing from the wilds of Maine. As an artist and a scholar, she believes art can enrich the human experience beyond entertainment, using movement, masks, and physical theatre like a microscope—zooming in to show what is otherwise unseen.

Ruthie's training is diverse. She has a Master's degree in Art for Social Engagement from the Rhode Island School of Design; completed her circus studies under the tutelage of circus greats Gino Farfan and Miguel Caceras; and is an alumna of Le Ecole International de Théâtre de Jacques Lecoq. In 2023 she apprenticed under Ivan Bacciochi at Le Ecole International de Mime Corporel Dramatique in Paris.

Ruthie's current work pushes the limits of physical storytelling, uniting her background in Mask, Physical Comedy, and Circus with Corporeal Mime.

Ruthie is an applied arts activist, using theatre and circus beyond entertainment alone. In 2024, she hosted workshops in Embodied Mask and Character Creation at The Hybrid Movement Lab in Brooklyn and for LA NAVE at El Calderon Teatro in Valladolid, Spain. Her summer workshops in Berlin focused on how puppetry and storytelling can support social and emotional learning for young people on the spectrum, and she is currently collaborating with Linden as an applied arts facilitator.

Ruthie has taught workshops and served as artist in residence at The Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University, Antioch College, The Fulbright Fellowship, The House of Yes, The Sable Project, La Main Collectif, and The City University of New York with the Creative Arts Team.

Her applied arts work is wide-ranging—spanning schools, prisons, refugee camps, special-needs centers, and programs for undocumented children. She often collaborates with licensed therapists and learning specialists, bringing together artistic and mental health teams to provide holistic support.

Ruthie discovered the art of mask while training at Ecole International de Théâtre de Jacques Lecoq, where she learned to build larval and expressive masks. In Berlin, she began working with master Balinese mask-maker and director Maria Eugenia Blanco, collaborating on Shoes! Shoes! Shoes! —funded by ERASMUS and the German Arts Council.

In 2021 they collaborated again on STUCK: Together Alone, a digital mask piece using infrared technology to create the illusion of an ensemble with a single performer. The work premiered at SPLIT Film Festival and was later invited to GlogauAIR in Berlin.