Jessie Nelson’s most recent musical, “Alice By Heart,” has been a work in progress for the past 10 years. After kicking off in her living room, it has been workshopped and refined until it landed at the MCC Theater earlier this month. She wrote and directed the play along with Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, the duo behind “Spring Awakening.”

A musical adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland,” “Alice By Heart” stars Nelson’s daughter, Molly Gordon, as Alice. The play is set during the London Blitz of World War II and centers on a teenager forced to take shelter in an underground tube. 

Nelson wrote the book for “Waitress” on Broadway, on which she collaborated with Sara Bareilles. Also active in the film world as screenwriter, director, and producer, her credits include “I Am Sam,” “Stepmom,” and “Love the Coopers.” 

We talked to Nelson about “Alice By Heart,” her relationship with writer-director Nora Ephron, and her upcoming romantic comedy series on Apple TV called “Little Voice.”

“Alice By Heart” is playing at the MCC Theater until April 7.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

W&H: Congratulations on the success of “Alice By Heart” and “Waitress,” which just opened in London. They are both female-centric shows. How important is it to you to work on productions that center around women’s stories and voices?

JN: It’s important for me to work on honest, deep, hopeful material. If the story comes as it did in a male voice as it did with “I Am Sam,” I’m open to exploring it. I love both male and female stories with heart in them.

At this moment in time, it’s particularly meaningful to get to work on these stories about women finding their authentic voices and coming into their selves. 

W&H: Can you elaborate on what you mean by this particular moment in time?

JN: I think we’re all becoming more conscious of how female stories get made or done. I’ve been lucky in my career to have worked on “Stepmom” and “Corrina, Corrina.” Many of the stories that I’ve written about women have found their way to the screen. That has been very meaningful for me. But right now as we are really examining the statistics and the leanings of our culture, these stories seem to be coming forward in a very powerful way.

But I also think it’s a powerful tool to tell an authentic male story. These stories affect women and men. So for me, it’s the story we are telling, just not what it’s about.

W&H: I know that Nora Ephron was a mentor of yours. Can you please describe your relationship with her?

JN: Nora reached out to me after “Corrina, Corrina, which came out in 1994. We established a friendship. There were so few female film directors at that time, and I think Nora loved connecting with other filmmakers and the friendships that grew out of that. She was a much tougher cookie than I was. She was also older than me and had more experience as a film director. So, she would give me really tough love advice and would not allow me to feel sorry for myself or stall too much.

If I could distill what Nora’s message was, I would say it was that the notion of letting fear be your tailwind, rather than your headwind. Just because you are frightened of something or it feels overwhelming at the moment, it doesn’t mean you should stop. That’s when you should shore up and push through. Her courage was really inspiring to me.

W&H: Can you please talk about the evolution of your collaboration on “Alice By Heart” with Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik?

JN: Steven and Duncan were originally going to do a series of music videos about different songs from “Alice By Heart,” taking each character and building a world for them. Then they saw a production that I brought Steven to from the Theater Geeks of America, a collection of 14-year-olds who were performing songs from “Spring Awakening.” He was so touched by this young group of kids. It was a very special group. Ben Platt, Beanie Feldstein, and my daughter, Molly Gordon, were a part of it. They were very openhearted, gifted kids.

Steven suggested we develop a piece about leaving childhood behind and workshop it with these same kids. You have to remember this was almost 10 years ago. I began to do the workshops in my living room, in music rooms, with our own money. I had an instinct that there was something interesting in this story and was searching for a narrative and a way to tell it in a meaningful way. One of our first ideas was why the rabbit was running out of time and that a young person’s first sense is that time isn’t endless or finite. Those were the play’s initial themes.

W&H: The songs and story seem to come together seamlessly. Can you talk about that process?

JN: Often Steven and I would work on a scene, and out of that an idea would come a song. Steven would write a lyric and give it to Duncan. Duncan and I would go back and forth about the intention of the piece and see where it would take us. Then Duncan would do these absolutely beautiful demos of the songs, and we would begin to carve out the narrative of the piece.

A few of the songs were already written before we began because of the music videos, so then it would be the opposite process of having the song and finding an appropriate scene to launch it. It was a constant back and forth between the three of us and then with the choreographers, Rick and Jeff Kuperman, once they came on board.

W&H: The play has eerie similarities to the political climate today. Were the similarities intentional?

JN: It’s very meaningful when a piece of work finally gets its first chance to be in front of the public’s eye. Again, this piece was in the works for 10 years and we finally got a chance to work with MCC at this particular time. Our story explores this maverick queen who is insane and tyrannical and these people know she’s insane and they listen to her anyway.

So much of “Alice in Wonderland” is Alice demanding a voice and a chance to grow. The more work we did on the piece, the more we realized those themes were right there in front of us, and it was exciting to bring them forward at this time.

W&H: Your daughter, Molly Gordon, plays Alice. You’ve worked with her several times in films such as “I Am Sam” and “Love the Coopers.” What’s it like having her play the Alice you created?

JN: It was a beautiful experience to work with her. Molly was hired before me because Steven had seen the Theater Geeks of America and asked if he could workshop the play with them. I came on board after that in a writing capacity and later as a director. It was a real gift to work with her on this material for 10 years and to go through her adolescence on this piece and watch her grow as an actress.

What was interesting about doing “Alice By Heart”  with 14-year-olds is that there was a delicious innocence and tenderness and heart about them. Now at this age, they can tackle more of a darker theme and meet the material where it lives. I come from a family of classical musicians who have worked together a lot, so working with your family feels very second nature to me. The directors I admire — like Cassavetes, Fellini, even Nora working with her sister Delia — always seemed very natural to me.

W&H: The music is really beautiful. Is your team working on a soundtrack?

JN: We’re doing a soundtrack album next week. It’s interesting because “Spring Awakening” was so meaningful for Molly growing up. It was a huge part of her adolescence, so being able to do a piece with Duncan and Steven is so extraordinary.

I feel that way about Colton Ryan — who plays Alice’s friend and first love — in the duets that they sing. Colton was a big piece of the puzzle, too, and the chemistry between him and Molly is an exciting thing. Steven and Duncan have a way of creating such soulful music. It’s kind of astounding to have watched all of it be born. I feel lucky to have seen songs like “Afternoon” or “Still” come into the world. It almost feels like Steven moves through these songs.

W&H: You’ve collaborated with Sara Bareilles before, and I read that you are working together again, this time on an Apple TV show. What can you tell us about it?

JN: My response speaks to your first question about telling women’s stories. Sara and I wanted to create a musical series with a big musical component, so we decided to create a series for this moment in time about a young singer-songwriter finding her voice. It’s about everything a young artist has to do to go find her authentic voice and then defend and hold onto it. Our show is called “Little Voice,” and we’re doing it with Bad Robot and Apple TV.

In terms of doing pieces about women, this was an exciting moment for us to craft this show. It’s loosely based on Sara’s life. Sara has had quite a journey to where she is now. She’s extraordinary and is one of my favorite collaborators ever.

W&H: I’m so impressed how successful “Waitress” has been. It’s such a special play, and one that has inspired girls of all ages.

JN: It’s funny, my daughter turned me onto the movie when she was 12 years old. She had it on at every birthday party she had at the house, so I must have seen it 20 times. She was so drawn to the movie’s themes. I think it’s that thing of male and female. We’ve all been in relationships where we’ve had to shrink to fit the other person. It’s that journey to reclaim who you are and find yourself again.

We have guest checks at “Waitress” where audience members can write a note to us and hang it on a board in the theater. I can’t tell you how many men write about how moving the piece is or how they’re going home to get out of a relationship or quit a job or talk to their friends and confront these things in themselves that they haven’t been able to before. Adrienne Shelly, the writer and director of the film, created a story that speaks to both men and women. It’s wonderful to watch young girls connect to the themes of it.