{"id":766792,"date":"2026-05-01T22:03:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T22:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/766792\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T22:03:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T22:03:17","slug":"windfall-poses-dilemma-how-much-is-a-dead-body-worth-steppenwolf-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/766792\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Windfall\u2019 poses dilemma: how much is a dead body worth? Steppenwolf 50"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a story about money. Don\u2019t let them fool you otherwise. When a Chicago father loses his child in a clash with the police, he is visited by three strangers who advise him to take the city\u2019s cash settlement, relocate and forget his grief\u2013or else remain haunted by memories of the world his child fought so hard to protect. This Windfall poses a dilemma: how much is a dead body worth?<\/p>\n

The story centers on Henri \u2018Mr. Mano\u2019 Tama\u00f1o, played by Michael Potts, whose child, Eli, played by Esco Joul\u00e9y, is killed by police. He faces pressure to accept a large financial settlement to \u201cforget his grief,\u201d turning the narrative into a profound meditation on whether money can, or should, buy justice.<\/p>\n

The Windfall brings to light the question of valuing human life in the face of systemic injustice.<\/p>\n

As such, this world premiere from Academy Award-winning ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney, playing at Steppenwolf Theatre, is a vital and timely look at the spirit of activism set against the most indifferent system of them all: the almighty dollar.<\/p>\n

\"image1\"THE THEATRE\u2019S NEAR North Side marquee.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Steppenwolf Artistic Directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis comment, \u201cWhen we commissioned ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney to write a new play specifically built for our in-the-round Ensemble Theater as a centerpiece of Steppenwolf\u2019s 50th season, we weren\u2019t sure what he\u2019d create. But, given that Tarell is one of the most talented writers of his generation, we were not at all surprised that he delivered a stunning, lyrical and undeniably bold script. This is a play for our moment, for our city, tailor-made for an ensemble cast and this unique venue. We eagerly anticipate sharing this vital Chicago story with our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

This play in-the-round provides a great look at what happens when the police converge on a group of protesters and decide to neutralize the situation, and a member of the group ends up dead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The group had gathered to protest the inability of the police to find a missing child. They had been warned and, unfortunately, things get out of hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s such a dilemma but a sad statement on the price of a body, when Eli turns up dead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWindfall\u201d reunites ensemble members Alana Arenas (First Lady, Second Wife, Miss Second, The Last One); Glenn Davis (Marcus); and Jon Michael Hill (Nurse, Cori), who starred in Steppenwolf\u2019s Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama \u201cPurpose,\u201d joined by ensemble member Namir Smallwood, (Officer, Brother 1)\u2014direct from his Broadway turn in \u201cBug,\u201d which was also staged at Steppenwolf at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"image2\"STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY\u2019s world premiere of \u201cWindfall\u201d features (top, left to right) ensemble members Alana Arenas, Glenn Davis, Jon Michael Hill (bottom, left to right) and Namir Smallwood with Esco Joul\u00e9y (Eli) and Michael Potts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joul\u00e9y (\u201cDying for Sex\u201d) and Potts (\u201cThe Wire,\u201d \u201cThe Piano Lesson\u2013Broadway\u201d) are both in their Steppenwolf debuts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The play was directed by Awoye Timpo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ensemble cast is terrific, especially Arenas, who expertly delivers in the three characters in which she plays. I adore Smallwood in anything in which he appears. I have written about him in an indie film called \u201cRounding\u201d and a short film called \u201cBailey\u2019s Blues.\u201d Moreover, I have interviewed Hill at length for this column.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rest of the cast are equally as good. I have seen some reviews where folks say they were blown out the water with this production. \u201cWindfall\u201d is good and not to be missed.<\/p>\n

However, since the subject matter is close to home for those in the African American community, I enjoyed the production but was mostly intrigued by the setting and the amenable personas of the cast members during the \u201ccall and response\u201d portions\u2014particularly by Davis, who plays the ghost of another deceased son named Marcus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blacks have been killed by police officers for the slightest infractions for many years\u2014with social media adding to the projection of said killings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was a good performance and if nothing else, it made me reflect on the many police settlements that the city of Chicago make and whether those affected families consider the influence of the \u201cblood money,\u201d or do they figure the settlement checks will compensate for their loved ones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Theatre\u2019s campus at 1650 N. Halsted St. is beautiful with valet parking and a quaint bar for pre- or post-performance quick bites.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWindfall\u201d runs through May 31 during\u00a0 Steppenwolf\u2019s 50th Anniversary Season. For more information, visit Steppenwolf.org.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is a story about money. Don\u2019t let them fool you otherwise. When a Chicago father loses his…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":766793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-766792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116501585005990762","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}