CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Nearly 40 years ago, actor Gary Sinise directed a Vietnam War drama called “Tracers” at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre.
Now, decades later, he's bringing a powerful story — written by retired Lt. Col. Scott Mann — about a new generation of veterans and their families to the stage.
Sinese, who’s one of the founders of the iconic theater company, said “Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret” is a powerful play with an all-veteran cast.
“Just not too long I discovered this play, called ‘Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret,’ and it’s written by an Afghanistan veteran, and he was dealing with a lot of serious issues, much like our vietnam veterans back in the ‘Tracers’ days, who came together to kind of workshop their stories,” Sinise said.
Sinise said the play is a love letter to Gold Star families and a lesson to civilians about the cost of modern war — especially the cost of the longest war in American history.
“The veterans of Afghanistan … are very troubled, quite frankly, from what happened in Afghanistan and the way we got out of Afghanistan, you know, serving there [and] being there for 20 years and then just handing it back over to the Taliban and having many of our veterans wonder why the sacrifices were made,” he said.
Although “Last Out” has been performed across the country, this will be its first performance in Chicago.
Steppenwolf will show the play for two nights only: this Friday and Saturday, with both performances at 7 p.m.
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