I’ve read that you grew up going to church but struggled with it once your parents split.

When my parents were together, we went to church all the time. And then when they split up, and we tried to stay at that church, people were a little judgmental about my mom getting a divorce. This was in the mid-80s, so it was more of a stigma than it is now.

So my mom just kind of stopped going. And then it trickled down to us. She would drop us off at church, me and my sister, and we would go to Sunday school, go to church, and then she would pick us up afterward. After a little while, it just became like: “What are we doing? Why are we going to this place that my mom’s not even comfortable stepping into?” So we just kind of stopped going.

Certainly another theme seems to be about how women get shoved constantly into the background. Was there a conscious attempt to engage some of the current discussions about gender equality? Or was it coming more from that personal place?

It’s probably a combination. Whenever we’re trying to come up with ideas, I won’t say that we go and look at headlines and try to figure out what is important today. But I think subconsciously it does affect your decisions. We always try, if we can, to stay one step back from exactly what’s happening now because in some regards, you could attach yourself to a story that might not be timeless. But also my own childhood growing up, and being raised by a strong woman, that seemed like a natural fit for Edi Patterson’s character as we were creating her. [Patterson plays Jesse’s sister, Judy.]

I’ve heard you were inspired to tackle this subject by your surroundings since moving down to Charleston.