'Jagged Little Pill' writer Diablo Cody had one goal: Make Alanis Morissette happy

Invited to write the book for “Jagged Little Pill,” the stage adaptation of Alanis Morissette's hit album running through April 23 at Chicago's James M. Nederlander Theatre, writer Diablo Cody had one objective: Make Morissette happy.

The album has a special place in Cody's heart. When the album was released in June 1995, the then 17-year-old Lemont native recalls driving around with her friends singing “All I Really Want.”

All the pieces were in place when producers contacted Cody in late 2016 about writing the book. Morissette was on board, Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus was attached and the creative team was set. The only thing “Jagged Little Pill” lacked was a script. The pressure was on Cody, who received a 2008 Oscar for her “Juno” screenplay, to complete a draft in time for the initial reading, which was scheduled for 2017, with a premiere to follow in spring 2018. Cody had to work fast.

“I knew it was not going to be a long development process and that appealed to me,” said Cody. “I like deadlines.”

It helped that Morissette's lyrics were inherently theatrical, said Cody who describes the collaboration as “deeply satisfying” but unlike anything she had experienced.

“The process with theater is so different from a movie or TV pilot. You are constantly editing and revising, even during the previews period,” said Cody who wrote hundreds of drafts before settling on the final version, which earned her a Tony Award in 2020.

Best of all, Morissette approved.

“Once Alanis was pleased, I was like: OK, I don't care what anyone else thinks,” Cody said. “It could be a flop. It doesn't matter, I've made one of my heroes happy.”

Born Brook Busey, Cody graduated from Benet Academy in Lisle. As a teenager, she was inspired by 1990s indie filmmakers and musicians, the Riot Grrrl movement and artists like Morissette, “who made me think there might be a place in the world for me as an artist.”

After earning a media studies degree from the University of Iowa, she worked at an ad agency then spent a year stripping at a Minneapolis' nightspot (which inspired her memoir: “Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper”). She wrote for an alternative weekly before trying her hand at screenwriting.

In addition to scripts for “Jennifer's Body,” “Juno,” the Meryl Streep film “Ricki and the Flash” and others, Cody - who came up with her pen name while driving through Cody, Wyoming, listening to the song “El Diablo” - created and wrote Showtime's “United States of Tara.”

“I always dreamed of being a writer,” said Cody, who was encouraged by her salt-of-the-earth parents and a teacher named Mrs. Kramer, who told the then 12-year-old Cody that she would one day be a professional writer.

“I had people in my life who were rooting for me,” she said.

Since “Juno,” she has worked steadily writing for TV and film. In 2013 she wrote and directed “Paradise.” Several other projects are in the works including “Lisa Frankenstein,” a film she wrote and produced about a high school girl who builds the man of her dreams. It's now in postproduction.

As for “Jagged Little Pill,” a show about a fractured family's attempts to heal, its theme is universal and worth repeating.

“People have a tendency to sweep things under the rug because it's easier,” she said. “The main message of the show is you can't heal without acknowledging what's been hurt.”

And once repaired, she said, it can be beautiful.

“Jagged Little Pill”

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Tuesday and Thursday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday and Wednesday through April 23. No 7:30 p.m. show April 23

Where: James M. Nederlander Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St. Chicago, broadwayinchicago.com/show/jagged-little-pill/

Tickets: Start at $56.50