Sydney Yu's Autobiographical Show THE LAST LEAF Premieres
9:30PM
“What does love mean to you? How do you express it? Can you move forward while still longing to stay within the memories?”
The Last Leaf is Sydney Yu’s autobiographical story, premiering at the Tank’s LimeFest on Sunday, August 23rd, 9:30 pm, 2026. It begins with her grandfather’s illness that brings her to reflect on the family she left behind. Born in Sydney, raised in Beijing, and now living in the US, Sydney often thinks about how she ended up here. It begins in a dreamlike world of childhood, fantastical love, and memories from long, long ago. Then reality breaks through, and what’s left is the truth she never quite said out loud.
The show is an hour long with no intermission. It centers around physical theater, pantomiming, and monologues. The creative team includes Elie Berman as Stage Manager, Siyin Yan as Scenic Designer, and Ethan Ordower as Lighting Designer. The production was originally developed as Sydney’s senior thesis performance at Trinity College in Spring 2025.
This story is for anyone who has loved someone implicitly, grieved someone quietly, or wondered what home and love actually mean. This piece is dedicated to her grandfather and to her family.
Tickets to The Last Leaf are currently on sale by visiting https://thetanknyc.org/calendar-1/thelastleaf. General admission is $10.
Sydney (Jiani) Yu, from Beijing, China, is a multi-disciplinary artist, actor, director, and singer who loves using media, music, and autobiographical storytelling as inspiration. Off-off-Broadway: Vanishing 2.0 (The Tank, The Host), Trinity/La MaMa 2023 Showcase (La MaMa ETC, Collaborator/Performer). Sydney is an incoming MFA Acting student at CalArts and a recent alum of Trinity College, Hartford. Her acting credits at Trinity include The Last Leaf (Senior Thesis Performance, Creator/Actor), Cinderella (Ella), Mr. Burns (Lisa), and Hamlet (Laertes). Her directing/devising credits include The Comeuppance (Silverthorne, Associate Director), The Vagina Monologues (Trinity The Mill, Director), and Baltimore (Austin Arts Center, Assistant Director).
Written and Performed by Sydney(Jiani) Yu
Stage Managed by Elie Berman
Scenic Design by Siyin Yan
Lighting Design by Ethan Ordower