Gabrielle Nevaeh on How Her Character Patty Newby Connects to the 'Stranger Things' World

yesterday

At the opening night of 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow' on Broadway, Gabrielle Nevaeh talks to THR on the red carpet about her new character Patty Newby and how she connects to the 'Stranger Things' world. Plus, she reacts to the possibility of a spinoff on Netflix.

Transcript

00:00What is going through your mind right now? It's opening night, it's about to be the big debut, what's going through your house?

00:05It's crazy, I feel like I have an energy ball that's just bouncing around in my body right now.

00:09I'm feeling so many things, excited, nervous, just really like buzzy, I don't know if that makes sense.

00:16Like my heart is racing a mile a minute, but I'm really trying to be grounded and trying to be just present in this current moment

00:21because, I mean, it's a once in a lifetime thing, I'm only going to have my Broadway debut once,

00:26so, yeah, I'm just taking really, really deep breaths and, you know, just taking it as it comes.

00:33And what can you tell us about Patty and how Patty fits into the Stranger Things lore and storyline?

00:39Yeah, so Patty Newby is a new character in the Stranger Things universe, which is a gift for me as an actor

00:44because I grew up watching the series, so having an opportunity to create in the world that I grew up watching

00:49is just, I mean, you can't ask for anything more, but Patty is an orphan, she's Bob's adopted sister,

00:55and she fits into the world by being a key character in Henry Creel's story.

01:00Through Patty, we get to unlock Henry Creel's humanity, and we get to kind of see the boy before the monster.

01:07We get to kind of see what made him the supernatural serial killer that we meet in season four.

01:14But Patty, she is, you know, she's my best friend, what can I say?

01:19She's noble, she's ambitious, she's driven, and I hope that when people come see the show, they feel seen by Patty.

01:24Sure, and I know because Patty is a new character to the Stranger Things history, how did you sort of form this character?

01:33Did you take a lot of influence from the show, or how much of it, did you want to just kind of do your own thing?

01:38How much of it was kind of taken from the West End production?

01:41Yeah, so I really wanted to make sure that Patty fit in with the world tonally,

01:47so I made sure to, like, re-watch the series and, you know, make sure I had all of the right spooky vibes going on.

01:53But as far as character creation, I really wanted to pull from my own life,

01:57because when you watch the play, there are so many different places where Patty could just say,

02:02okay, I'm done, hands off, it's over, but she doesn't.

02:05And I wanted to really find a justification for that and really just take a deep dive into my own life of,

02:11if this were happening to me, if the only person who saw me and recognized me for who I am was going to be taken away from me,

02:17how would I respond?

02:19And that's really how I built Patty from the ground up and found her nobility and her ambition and her drive

02:24and found justification for her actions.

02:27Sure, and I know so many Stranger Things fans that are excited to see this show.

02:31Do you think that this show could make its way onto Netflix as its own spinoff?

02:36I would hope so.

02:37I mean, I think it definitely has the legs.

02:39Kate Tree Fry, our writer, was actually asked to write two episodes of Stranger Things when creating this play,

02:44and that's essentially what our Act 1 and Act 2 is.

02:47It's two separate episodes of Stranger Things live on stage.

02:50So I would hope that maybe Netflix would want to turn it into something on screen, but, you know, fingers crossed.

02:56Have you been able to have any conversations with anyone from the Netflix cast at all?

03:01I had an opportunity to meet Sadie Sink.

03:05She came to our show.

03:07It was an amazing experience.

03:08She's such a sweet person.

03:10But, no, I haven't gotten a chance to talk to any of the other cast about what they think, what they feel.

03:16I would hope that they like it.

03:17I hope maybe they come tonight and see it.

03:19So, you know.

03:20We got some surprises tonight with the Netflix cast, so that'll be exciting for sure.

03:24And, finally, I wanted to ask, what do you hope happens, as a big Stranger Things fan yourself, what do you hope happens in Season 5 of this series?