Moving a hit series or movie into another medium is often a bad idea that results in disappointed fans and foaming critics. Perhaps that’s why the overwhelmingly positive reviews of the play adapted from the Netflix series Stranger Things refer to it as not just a success but a “phenomenon.” The new play, a prequel to the sci-fi series, is set 25 years earlier, in 1959, when today’s adults are teenagers in small-town Indiana. Classmates are mysteriously killed, a naval ship disappears, and an odd boy suddenly enrolls in the local school. Kate Trefry, a staff writer and story editor for the Stranger Things series, collaborated on the concept of the play with Jack Thorne, the man behind the mega-hit theatrical adaptation of Harry Potter, and the Duffer brothers, who created Stranger Things. The play is already slated for a Broadway run. —Jensen Davis