The Theatre Podcast With Alan Seales

Gabrielle Nevaeh’s journey to Stranger Things: The First Shadow feels like a real-time coming-of-age story. In our conversation, she opens up about growing up painfully shy in Florida, discovering acting at a performing arts school, and then making the leap to Los Angeles at just twelve years old with nothing but six suitcases and a dream. From navigating the whirlwind of Nickelodeon fame, to essentially attending “Nick High,” to juggling seven different shows while finishing high school, she shares how she slowly learned to trust her instincts, embrace her authentic self, and listen less to the external noise. That confidence is exactly what carried her into one of the wildest audition processes I’ve ever heard, including a full seven-hour callback in New York where she literally performed the entire play as a one-woman show. Once she stepped into the world of Stranger Things, everything changed. Gabrielle talks about finding her voice onstage eight shows a week, building Patty Newby from the ground up, and