Having battled a Demogorgon, a spider monster, the mind flayer and demo dogs, Natalia Dyer is quite used to stranger things in her life. So, when the 25-year-old Nashville native was asked to search the internet looking for sex, for her the challenge was just another day on the job. Yes, God, Yes takes an insightful look at a teenager’s sexual awakening and the dilemma she faces when it runs up against her religious upbringing.

“In our teenage years, we all have so much to question and yet so few places to access answers,” she says. “It’s not a subject that is easily talked about and back in the 1990s, when this film takes place, there was certainly not a lot of films or media outlets a young girl could turn to. So, you were left to figure things out for yourself.”

Luckily for the character she plays, Alice, those years also saw the dawning of the internet age and the young woman has at her fingertips, both a blessing and a curse to get her answers. When she accidentally discovers an AOL chat room, the portal steers her away from the naiveté of her sheltered life into a world that begins to provide information for her newfound awareness.

Based on a short film directed by Karen Maine, Yes, God, Yes ponders what happens when you begin to break the rules. As you struggle to find yourself and where you fit in, what is your truth? What happens when the sleeping giant awakens?

For the actress, her professional awakening took place in 2009 when she made her acting debut at age twelve in the film Hannah Montana: The Movie. Working alongside Miley Cyrus, Dyer relished her role as Clarissa Granger, but she also knew immediately that she wasn’t meant to inhabit the world of young Disney star for long. While still a student at the Nashville School of the Arts, she seized the opportunity to change that image by shooting the coming-of-age drama, I Believe in Unicorns, which deals with the subject of abuse.

Moving to New York, Dyer began her matriculation at NYU but all plans changed when she was hired to play Nancy Wheeler in the Netflix genre series Stranger Things, an instant smash hit which opened new creative avenues for the young star.

“Stranger Things has meant so many things to me. It changed my life personally, as an actor, and achieved what I am so proud of. It’s a show about friendship and relationships and shows that when cross generations come together, they can achieve so much.”

What does she hope her latest film accomplishes?

“Yes, God, Yes is a movie about sexual awakening for sure, but the film explores the demonizing of people towards something we can all relate to. I hope this movie allows us to create a space where we can acknowledge and just talk about it.”