Tarell Alvin McCraney slides into a cushy chair wearing a hoodie with “Trayvon” across the chest. That hoodie, as the 45-year-old Florida native will later reveal, is doing a bit of foreshadowing.
McCraney, the author of Steppenwolf’s world premiere play “Windfall,” is perhaps best known for his unreleased semi-autobiographical drama, “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue,” which was adapted for a theatrical release as “Moonlight.” It earned McCraney an Oscar in 2017 for co-writing the film’s script.
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Today, McCraney is fresh off a plane from Los Angeles where he’s the artistic director of the Geffen Playhouse. The sweatshirt he’s wearing pays homage to Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen who was fatally shot in 2012 by his neighbor while walking home from a corner store. The case garnered national attention.
The expectations for McCraney’s new play are huge. It stars four actors with recent Broadway runs and is the apex of Steppenwolf’s historic 50th season. The play also follows on the heels of “Purpose,” the Branden Jacobs-Jenkins family drama that went on to win two Tonys including Best Play.
Windfall
When: April 9 - May 31
Where: Steppenwolf Theatre Co., 1650 N. Halsted St.
Info: Tickets from $64.50
On its face, “Windfall,” running through May 31 at Steppenwolf, is a play about money. Set in Chicago, the play follows a father who loses a child to police violence and stands to inherit a hefty sum from the government.
But underneath the unfortunately common story of a Black
