Community engagement and social justice
Site-specific and integrated art
Live performance, including puppetry, theater, dance, music, and spoken word poetry, etc..
Pittsburgh Creative Corps Artist Directory
Nina Ruffini
Paper Electric Productions
Primary Discipline
Artistic Practice
Performance/live art
Painting/works on paper/printmaking
Theater/acting/directing/dramaturgy
Panacea, 2020.
BB Diorama, 2022. A walk through open air event with music, circus, installation, and slideshow.
Runaway Circus, 2019.
Drive, 2025, short film.
Why buy the milk when you can let the cow be free?, 2024. One act play written by Nina Ruffini with props by Marika Stephens.
About the Artist
Nina Ruffini is a multi disciplinary artist with a background in painting, printmaking, circus and theater arts. She spent 20 years in Asheville, NC where she co-founded The Runaway Circus and Toy Boat Community Art Space. She has shown her work in various locations in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. She has performed nationally and internationally, including across the United States, Guatemala and Canada. She has worked in both stage and screen both in front of and behind the camera. She is currently living in Pittsburgh, Pa. creating new performances under Paper Electric Productions.
Photo by Joey Ruffini
Web
Accreditations, Certifications, and/or Awards
Set and prop work in commercial, film, theater
Provides Fabrication Services to Other Artists
Yes
Teaching Artist
Yes, all ages
Joined the Directory
May 2026
Related
PROJECT
Pittsburgh Creative Corps
Designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pittsburgh Creative Corps initiative engages artists and creative workers to activate the public realm while providing economic opportunity.
“I love any opportunity to bring people together and submerse them in an experience. There is a simple delight in bringing art to the public and showing people something new in familiar spaces.”
Nina Ruffini
Contact the Artist
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Related
PROJECT
Pittsburgh Creative Corps
Designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pittsburgh Creative Corps initiative engages artists and creative workers to activate the public realm while providing economic opportunity.
