The purpose of art,” James Baldwin once wrote, “is to lay bare the questions hidden by the answers.” More than half a century later, this maxim echoes in the work of playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, who never met an assumption he didn’t want to challenge.
“I really do believe that you can tell a lot about a community by the stories they tell, and I was just trying to figure out which stories might be missing that I need to be telling,” he says. “When I say ‘telling,’ I don’t mean it as an answer. I mean: There are large questions that loom in my mind.”
McCraney is referring to his latest work, Windfall, which gets its world premiere at Steppenwolf, April 9 to May 31. It features the playwright’s signature recipe of intense real-world issues leavened with wry humor and a dash of the mystic. Set in Chicago, it follows the struggles of Mr. Maño, whose nonbinary child, Eli, is shot by police during a protest on the Southwest Side. As he navigates his grief, various agents of the state call on Maño, trying to get him to agree to a settlement to compensate for his loss.
It gets at a thorny issue that’s nagged at McCraney for years: “We call ourselves a civil society, but when children are taken away from us by state violence, we offer checks. That’s what we do. It’s terrifying that this sort of situation is quotidian enough that there’s a line item in the budget for that kind of pain. I often mourn twice for the parents who have to decide what to do at that moment.”
The piece was commissioned by Steppenwolf’s artistic directors, Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis. Says Davis, who also stars in the play: “It feels like fertile ground to explore the nature of capitalism, and how much we’re willing to give up for the gain of the almighty dollar.”
Tapping McCraney to write for the company’s 50th anniversary season was a no-brainer, given his artistry and high profile. He was 32 when the MacArthur Foundation awarded him a “genius” grant, 36 when he won the Oscar for Moonlight (the film adaptation of his play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue). Now 45, the Miami native is currently the artistic director of L.A.’s Geffen Playhouse, but his professional career began here. He got his undergraduate degree from the Theatre School at DePaul University, where he met Davis; after graduating, he was quickly cast in Steppenwolf’s Theatrical Essays in 2004 and became an ensemble member in 2010. “I think of Chicago as an artistic home, or at least a birthplace,” he says. “I certainly got some of the best theater and film education in Chicago. That changed my life.”
Personally and professionally, he forged several key relationships here. “Tarell’s my best friend in the world,” says Davis. “We’re kindred spirits, and we’ve built our careers together.” Another future ensemble member in that DePaul cohort: Alana Arenas, who also grew up in Miami. “I’ve known Alana since we were 14,” says McCraney, “and we’ve always been working on something together. She’s one of the unknown jewels of the country.”
The Windfall cast reunites Arenas, Davis, and Jon Michael Hill — a trio that recently rode the indomitable Purpose train. That play made its Steppenwolf world premiere in 2024, then went on to Broadway, winning the Pulitzer and the Tony. With the pedigrees involved, there’s plenty of anticipation for Windfall — especially because McCraney wrote it with these three actors in mind. (The cast of six also includes ensemble member Namir Smallwood.)
Audiences should not expect the conventional. “Windfall is a fable,” McCraney notes. “It doesn’t unfold like a sort of CSI: Chicago. Fantastic things happen.” Among them: Davis’s character, who directly addresses the audience, is a ghost. “Tarell takes a fragment of something and conjures it into its own new play,” Davis says. “Windfall has spiritual elements and musical elements I’m very excited about. It’s not a kitchen-sink drama. It’s got a lot of surprises. This is a Tarell Alvin McCraney experience.”