pale blue dot is a dark fairy tale — a coming-of-age story of an alien being, starting from its arrival on Earth and unfolding through a long journey of self-discovery, encounters with others, and exploration of the world around it.
Blending the languages of comics, physical theatre, motion design, animation, live drawing, and sculptural expression, the stage transforms into a visual environment inspired by video games and animated films.

In an attempt to give physical form to the digital and to create a dialogue between the virtual and the real, the project reflects on the relationship between the individual and the cosmos, touching on all the crucial phases of human life.

The title of the performance comes from the first photograph of planet Earth taken from beyond the orbits of all the other planets in the Solar System:

As it was about to leave the Solar System, Voyager 1 turned around. And looked back one last time.
The photograph it took — from a distance of six billion kilometers — shows a faint, distant speck: a Pale Blue Dot, as Carl Sagan famously called it in a 1994 lecture at Cornell University:
"A mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The only home we've ever known."
— Ersilia Vaudo, Mirabilis, Einaudi 2023

Running time: 50 minutes

by and with Sathya Nardelli and Nicholas Turba
video design Nicholas Turba
costume design Mariana Oddis
sound design Nasa Bianconi
dramaturgical consulting Elena Patacchini and Diego Piemontese
movement consulting Noemi Bresciani

in collaboration with Laboratori Permanenti/Residenza Artistica Sansepolcro

with the support of Collettivo Effe, Diesis Teatrango, Campsirago Residenza, ZONA K

Finalist Premio Dante Cappelletti 2024 

Winner Bando Portraits on Stage 2025 

premiere: 4th September 2025, Terre in Festival, Teatro Comunale di Monterchi