HEADLINES

2022-2023 tour

EXPERIENCE THE EMOTIONAL JOURNEY OF LAST OUT: ELEGY OF A GREEN BERET AT SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE

Experience the captivating story that sheds light on sacrifice and heroism, brought to life by the prestigious Gary Sinise Foundation. The Gary Sinise Foundation will present a Heroes Journey Production of Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret (Last Out) at Skylight Music Theatre, 158 N. Broadway in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. Performances are Friday, Sept. 22 (7:30 p.m.) and Saturday, Sept. 23 (1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.). Tickets are $25 or free for active military personnel, veterans, first responders and their families along with the families of the fallen. Since 2018, Last Out has been performed across the country reaching thousands…

Inspiring America: Gary Sinise, veterans work together to tell military stories​

Gary Sinise Foundation brings 'Last Out' with an all-veterans cast to Steppenwolf Theatre​

CHICAGO (WLS) — The Gary Sinise Foundation is presenting an all-veterans cast performing “Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret” at Steppenwolf Theatre, written by and starring Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mann, who served combat mission in Afghanistan.

The story and experience are both unique.

“You’re enlightened to the experience of what our men and women do in service,” Sinise said. “This really speaks to something very profound and very special, and very important, and it’s educational for people to see what our current day warriors are going through post-service.”

Sinise’s commitment to veterans was not inspired by playing Lieutenant Dan in “Forrest Gump”; the actor brought the Vietnam War drama “Tracers” to Steppenwolf in the 80s…..

Gary Sinise Foundation presents "Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret"​

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – The Gary Sinise Foundation is set to present a play in San Diego in the coming week to support local veterans.

The play, “Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret”, was written by a Veteran and will be preformed at the CA Center for the Arts in Escondido.

Actor and Humanitarian Gary Sinise joined KUSI’s Lauren Phinney to discuss the work and what it means to him….

GARY SINISE TALKS VETERAN-PENNED PLAY, LAST OUT: ELEGY OF A GREEN BERET

The Gary Sinise Foundation is preparing to put on a production of LAST OUT: ELEGY OF A GREEN BERET to help support local veterans.

“The beginnings of my real involvement with supporting our veterans goes back into the 80s,” Sinise explained. “I was working at Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago…I was looking for material that would speak to [Vietnam veterans’] experience and I found this play called TRACERS.”

TRACERS was written by a group of Vietnam vets and Sinise and his theater group put on the play, which the actor found “very healing.”

“We ended up starting a veteran’s night program that has lasted for over 40 years at Steppenwolf Theater,” Sinise shared. 

The actor shared that the shows and the post-show question-and-answer portion of the play really affected the veterans who came to see the shows…

Photos: First Look at LAST OUT: ELEGY OF A GREEN BERET at Steppenwolf Theatre

Last Out, which has been performed across the country since 2018 and reached thousands of audiences, pulls from the experiences of the longest war in American history, a war fought mostly in the shadows. Written by Ret. Lt. Col Scott Mann and directed by Karl Bury, this epic play, performed by a cast of combat veterans and military-family members, validates the journey of our military veterans and their families while building genuine and well-informed understanding in the communities where they live.

Last Out playwright and creator Scott Mann adds, “Last Out is a story never told from a voice never heard. A love letter to civilians to let them know the cost of modern war. A love letter to our Gold Star families. And certainly a love letter to our active duty members, our reserve, our National guard and our veterans.”….

Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents “Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret”

Steppenwolf Co-Founder Gary Sinise comments, “Nearly 40 years ago, I had the good fortune of directing the Vietnam War drama Tracers at Steppenwolf Theatre. With Vietnam veterans in my own family, it was a personal mission for me to honor them with a great production, to let them, and all veterans, know that their service to our country was appreciated and that their sacrifices would never be forgotten. My friend, Afghanistan combat veteran, LT Colonel (retired) Scott Mann, has written the modern-day equivalent to Tracers. Based on the stories of the men and women he served with, it is a powerful play with an all-veteran cast, and as the Founder of the Gary Sinise Foundation and one of the founders of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, I am honored to present Last Out under our Foundation’s ‘Community and Education’ pillar.”….

Well-known actor using his name to support unsung heroes on the Phoenix theater stage

PHOENIX — Actor Gary Sinise has gained fame in roles including Lt. Dan Taylor in “Forrest Gump,” Ken Mattingly in “Apollo 13” and Burt Hammersmith in “The Green Mile.”

Sinise is now using his name to support unsung heroes on the theater stage who are U.S. veterans.

This weekend you can join Sinise’s cause by joining the audience inside the Herberger Theater Center.

“It’s rooted in reality and rooted in real life,” Sinise said.

The Gary Sinise Foundation is presenting the play “Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret” on Friday and Saturday at the Phoenix theater.

Sinise said this is the second stop of the play’s six-city tour…

Gary Sinise on the Importance of Working with Veterans and “Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret”

John Howell is joined by the great Gary Sinise: Actor, Musician, and Emmy, Golden Globe, Tony, and SAG Award Winner. Sinise has a great deal of passion for his work with Veterans through his foundation, the Gary Sinise Foundation. This month, Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre is hosting a special presentation of “Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret.”…

past tour/film

Last Out: The Elegy of a Green Beret

Last Out is a play written by and starring former Green Beret Scott Mann – it is perhaps the most 360-degree view of war and its after-effects that has ever been put on stage. But it has now been filmed and will be released on Amazon Prime, so to celebrate, the Savage Wonder Festival is proud to present this incredibly special screening with the cast in attendance and a Q&A to follow. Co-starring Len Bruce (retired US Special Forces Master Sergeant), Bryan Bachman (former 82nd Airborne Infantryman), and Ame Livingston (Equity actor and military family member), Last Out is the story of a Green Beret fighting battles that range from tribal Afghanistan to his own living room. You’ve heard the war stories of the “first in.” This is the untold true story of the Last Out…

Retired Green Beret uses theater to help veterans cope with the trauma of war

For nearly a year, a powerful play written and performed by military veterans has been traveling around the country. The play, “Last Out,” is inspired by the 23 years Scott Mann spent in the Army. When he retired from service he struggled with his mental health and decided to write it as a form of therapy.

“For a lot of years, I pushed down a lot of the aspects of combat that I didn’t understand,'” Mann told CBS News’ David Begnaud. “Whether it was survivor’s guilt or mood swings or a lot of the indicators of post-traumatic stress.”

Mann was a U.S. Army Green Beret who got deployed 12 times in 11 years. He retired as a lieutenant colonel. The play he wrote and stars in is all about the trauma of war.

“It’s been an opportunity to just deal with and process and face a lot of the things that I was struggling to either talk about or to express,” Mann said….

See 'Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret' for the first time on film this Veterans Day

“Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret” has been shown to audiences across the country to great acclaim, particularly amongst veterans and Gold Star families.

Centered around Special Forces Team Sergeant Danny Patton (played by Scott Mann) the play takes place after he has been killed by an IED. For the next two hours, audiences relive Danny’s life story which in many ways is the story of all Green Berets during the War on Terror.

For the first time, the play can now be seen by a much wider audience as it has been turned into a film and this Veterans Day is available to be viewed online…

SOAA Supports Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret

We are honored to support Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret. Last Out is a gripping play based upon the real-life experiences of writer, lead actor, and former Green Beret, Scott Man and his family and fellow soldiers. The all-veteran/military family cast carefully portrays the heartbreaks of combat, both on the battlefield and in the military home. Upon the tragic collapse of Afghanistan after a twenty-year-long war, we all need these stories in order to mend, move forward, and bind us together.

“Stories, even the painful ones, heal the heart, our brains, our communities, and our nation.”  – Scott Mann, Playwright

For generations, stories have been used to help warriors assimilate back into their families and the rest of society after battle, but in America we’ve largely let this art die when it comes to combat. Not only did storytelling provide an outlet for fighters to work through and express their invisible wounds, but it helped civilians better understand what they had gone through, which increased empathy and lead to improved support for the returning heroes…

"Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret" spotlights two decades of war through the eyes of veterans: "It's in my head every day"

“Gold Star families came to the Cameo Theatre in Fayetteville, North Carolina, to preview retired Green Beret Scott Mann’s labor of love.

“I wanted to tell the story about the last out, those who keep going back while the rest of the nation goes about its business,” Mann told CBS News’ Catherine Herridge.

He spent 23 years in the United States Army—18 years as a Green Beret. Every one of his missions has an objective, including his new movie “Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret.”

“My objective with this film is to inform the American people on the cost of modern war,” he said.

A cost that Mann knows firsthand. The movie is based on a play by veterans for veterans. The story looks at nearly two decades of war through the eyes of those who lived it….”

The real cost of war for troops and families: Veteran turns playwright to tell the story

TAMPA, Fla. (SBG) — Twenty years after the 9/11 terror attacks shook our nation to the core, America is facing new uncertainty. Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, and troops exited our longest war. Now, hundreds of thousands of U.S. service members are trying to find purpose in the war they fought. One Special Forces veteran found solace in storytelling, and his play is helping families cope.

As Afghanistan was being overrun by the Taliban, and desperate citizens pleaded for an escape, even flooding airports and climbing onto taxiing aircraft, Scott Mann was watching.

“My friends who are Afghans are now texting me in the middle of the night, asking ‘Every city has fallen. What should I do?'” he told us.

Mann worries for his Afghan friends, and understands the anguish being felt by U.S. troops who fought America’s longest war, as well as the families who lost loved ones in combat…

“Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret” play honoring a fallen soldier from Brandon

BRANDON, Miss. (WLBT) – Three combat veterans and a military veteran family member perform in a play called Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret.

The production crew has traveled nationwide and has come to Brandon for the weekend.

The lead actor and playwright Scott Mann said he wrote this play after 23 years of service in the army.

“A lot of people didn’t understand the world that we live in as warriors, as soldiers, and the journey that we had been on. And so I wrote this play first to just kind of help with my healing but then ultimately to help civilians better understand the cost of war,” said Mann.

The 90 minute play takes us on a journey of a fallen soldier who is struggling to cross over to Valhalla, or heaven…

Play ‘Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret’ Aims to Inform About True Costs of War

“Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret” — a one-act play written by Ret. Lt Col Scott Mann after 23 years serving in the Army, 18 of them as a Green Beret — makes the last stop on its national tour with performances at the New Vic Theatre in Santa Barbara on Saturday and Sunday.

“Last Out” is performed by a cast of four combat veterans, including Mann, and a military family member who each play multiple roles.

In the play, three ‘operators’ from Valhalla are executing a mission to help protagonist Danny Patton let go of what’s holding him in purgatory so he can ascend to Valhalla.

Scott wrote “Last Out” as a way to inform civilians of the true cost of war, not just for soldiers, but the families back home, and to highlight the stigma surrounding post-traumatic stress (PTS)…

In the Moment: ‘Last Out’ by The Heroes Journey

Last Out is a raw emotional journey with no illusions as its core value.

It is an intense confessional about military service and the effects on family, told from multiple perspectives. It is no sanitized, pretty TED Talk with nifty projections from practiced narrators. Last Out, a short-run, touring production, begins with trigger warnings about its content; the least of which is its strong earthy language. Last Out is a unique wartime tale not about those first in to where few tread, but those last out, with a military spouse front and center to the unraveling story about sacrifice…

‘Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret’ A spotlight on sacrifice and healing

For anyone who serves in any branch of the military, their job is a major part of their life; and when service members go overseas, they come back with experiences and stories they need to share, both good and bad, for the sake of their well-being. “Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret,” which will be at the Crown Complex Dec. 7 and 8, will portray some of those experiences in a way never before seen in any production.

For Scott Mann, a veteran, professional speaker and storyteller who was stationed at Fort Bragg, acting and voice classes were ways for him to become more effective on stage. After a coach recommended he write a one-person show about something from the war, he wrote a short script. “My coach said, ‘You know what? That’s a play. You should think about that,” said Mann. Eventually the idea evolved into a full-length play —“Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret,” which three years later, made its way to the stage…

Retired lieutenant colonel turns his story into film to help other vets fight depression

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A former Green Beret who served in the U.S. Army for 23 years is using his depression to make art, and to help his fellow veterans ahead of Memorial Day this year.

Retired Lt. Col. Scott Mann is telling his story and the stories of other veterans in his first feature film, called “Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret.”

The film is based on a play Mann wrote to get through his darkest moments of depression.

“I wanted to do something that might just bring a more emotional perspective to this thing,” Lt. Col. Mann told FOX 17 News. “I was already dabbling in theatre so I wrote a play about the war and decided to complete my midlife crisis by acting in it.”…

Retired Green Beret shares his journey of healing through storytelling

Next week Tampa Bay is set to host a massive convention dedicated to the U.S. Special Forces. 

As industry leaders and veterans make their way to town for the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference, one former Green Beret is taking the opportunity to share his story of healing through storytelling. 

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Scott Mann stays pretty busy these days.

“This is Rooftop Leadership headquarters,” he said while walking through his office. “We are a leadership training company.”

After serving 23 years in U.S. Special Forces and 15 years as a Green Beret, he and his wife started a nonprofit called The Heroes Journey.

The organization helps veteran tell their stories and find their voice…

'Last Out - Elegy of a Green Beret' touring play to honor 2 Mississippi Gold Star families

A touring production intended to help civilians better understand the cost of combat to veterans and their families will stop in Brandon Saturday and Sunday.

Performed by a professional cast of military veterans, ‘Last Out – Elegy of a Green Beret’ is a white-knuckle ride that tells the real story of our Special Forces soldiers and the families that fight alongside them, according to a news release.

Each one of the shows in Brandon will be dedicated to the memory of a Mississippi fallen hero to honor their sacrifice, their families, and their stories…

Retired Green Beret writes play on the true cost of war

SARASOTA, Fla. – We often see soldiers heading off to combat, but what happens to the families of those who never return home? Or those who do come back but are haunted by their combat experiences?

Former Green Beret turned playwright Scott Mann has brought the battlefield to the stage in “Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret.”

“I’m using the stage to help veterans and families let go of the pain of war,” he said.

Friday was his first stage read at Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota. This new front line proved to be just as intimidating as the ones in the desert of Afghanistan or Iraq.

Last Out with Scott Mann

The battlefield might be enemy territory, and it might be in your own living room. Former Green Beret Scott Mann brings the battlefield to the stage in the play Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret. The show stops this weekend in Vermillion on its American tour.

Last Out seeks to help veterans and veteran families navigate the military journey and to help civilians understand the battle that for many never ends.

Scott Mann is a retired Lt. Colonel. He spent nearly 23 years in the Army, including deployments in Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Eighteen years of his service was as a Green Beret. He spoke with Lori Walsh on In the Moment and then shared a social video about what the interview meant to him.  You can read the edited version below or listen to it HERE…