Photo courtesy Shea Grant
By Aliyah Feeney
LITTLE SILVER – Shea Grant, a native of Little Silver and a graduate of Red Bank Regional High School, is making her Broadway debut in the new production of “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.”
The play by Kate Trefry is a much-anticipated prequel to the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things,” set in Hawkins, Indiana, two decades before the events in the television show. The series follows a group of teenagers as they battle supernatural creatures. The play provides background on how the events of “Stranger Things” began.
Grant is playing Claudia Yount, the teenage version of the series character Dustin Henderson’s mother.
Growing up in Monmouth County, Shea always had a passion for performing, she said. From early experiences in Red Bank’s theater scene to training at other prestigious programs, her path to the stage was shaped by a community that fostered creativity and artistic growth.
“Red Bank has a really lively theater scene, and I was lucky enough to be a part of Two River Theater’s Metro Scholars and ‘A Little Shakespeare’ programs,” Grant said. “I also trained and performed with Actor’s Playground School of Theater and the Count Basie Theatre (now the Count Basie Center for the Arts). All of these places supported me as a young artist and helped cultivate my love for performing.”
While Grant was a student at Red Bank Regional High School, Class of 2019, she was under the guidance of Reuben Jackson, director of the Red Bank Regional Theatre Company and a 1983 graduate of the school. Jackson earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drama from Juilliard in 1997 and a Master of Fine Arts in playwriting from Columbia University a decade later.
“Shea honed her craft and grew into the talented young actress she is today,” Jackson said about working with Grant. He witnessed firsthand her dedication and passion for the stage.
“She was exceptional in all of the roles she played, but she was particularly brilliant as Hecate in ‘Macbeth.’ Shea’s work ethic was far superior to her peers,” he said. She was often the first to memorize lines and would “try three or four different readings or versions of the same character in rehearsal.”
“I watched her grow from a young girl into a young woman in the span of four years with grace and elegance and determination and dedication that is rare in this profession at that age. But Shea also had a great sense of humor,” Jackson said.
Success in the theatre arts requires more than just talent – it demands discipline, perseverance and humility. Jackson shared valuable professional advice for aspiring performers, emphasizing the long and challenging journey ahead.
“The advice I would give to students who want to follow this path into the theater arts is to develop a sense of discipline,” he said. “A lot of people have talent, but they don’t equate the need for discipline in getting and maintaining success.”
He also encouraged actors to be “humble,” calling all artistic endeavors a “long journey.”
“You’re like a long-distance runner, and you have to train in a technique that will give you endurance,” Jackson said.
Grant’s journey to Broadway was paved with significant early milestones in her career. “While I was at RBR, I booked a short film, ‘Before Mars,’ for National Geographic, which was my first professional gig. Soon after that I also got an episode of NBC’s ‘Law & Order: SVU,’ ” said Grant.
The journey to this moment was far from easy. Shea faced significant challenges early in her career. “I was attending drama school during COVID, which was certainly challenging,” she said. The 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, a major industry disruption, brought the entertainment world to a standstill as actors and writers fought for better wages and protections.
Grant’s graduation from college coincided with the strike, halting all productions and job opportunities in the industry. “In terms of facing career adversity, I’d say those two hurdles were the most difficult I’ve had thus far,” she said, reflecting on these challenges.
Despite the hurdles, she persevered and was cast in a variety of industry projects. “After graduating from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, I worked on CBS’s ‘FBI’ and voiced a role in the documentary film ‘TWST: Things We Said Today.’ ”
Her persistence paid off when she booked the part in “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” but it was no overnight success. “After my first audition for the show, I went through callbacks for three months with casting and the creative team before I was cast,” said Grant.
For aspiring performers from Monmouth County, Grant offers simple yet valuable advice: “Find where and how you like to perform and follow that! The best thing you can do for yourself is to do what you love with people you like to do it with.”
“Stranger Things: The First Shadow” began Broadway previews March 28 at the Marquis Theater, with an official opening date scheduled for April 22. The play premiered on London’s West End in December 2023, with another actress in the role of Claudia Yount.
The article originally appeared in the April 3 – 9, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
