Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
As part of the Works in Progress program at Annex Theatre, I had the opportunity to dramaturgically support the development of Sameer Arshad’s latest play, The Genie’s Therapist. I chose to work with Sameer for the final assignment of my Editing certificate course at UW-PCE, knowing that we would be able to complete the final draft of the play for a reading at Annex Theatre in October.
About the Play
The Genie’s Therapist by Sameer Arshad
Directed by Yousif Abouzgaya
Works-in-Progress Reading at Annex Theatre
October 24 and 28, 2025
Summary: The legendary genie of the lamp struggles with the trauma of being beholden to the wishes of men for centuries. Living as a disguised recluse in the modern world, he discovers the wonders of psychotherapy and seeks out a therapist. Things take a wild turn as the therapist eventually learns the truth about him. The Genie’s Therapist follows the growth of the genie and his therapist as they become acutely aware of the demands, expectations, and patterns of abuse that people can inflict on each other in their pursuit of what they desire the most. (From web.archive.org version of annextheatre.org)
During the Editing course, Sameer and I focused on the first two scenes because we were required to meet a specified word count. Having a narrow target allowed me to develop a clear methodology that I’m eager to implement on future projects. I used a ‘reverse outline’ method to understand the play as a whole, became more familiar with comments and track changes in Microsoft Word, and improved my communication skills to seamlessly integrate compliment with critique. The reverse outline was an internal tool that enabled me to create an outline based on the initial draft Sameer provided, and it also helped me see potential outcomes for the play’s conclusion from a high-level perspective. Sameer is an excellent communicator, and working with them directly in the document as well as by phone and email was nearly effortless.
Following the course, we expanded our scope to work on the entire play to finalize a full-length script that showcased Sameer’s unique voice and put them in a good place to receive feedback from cast, creative team, and audiences. It was a weird feeling to not be directly involved in the rehearsal process, but because I relocated to Scotland before the process began, I was only able to help deliver the final script.
At first, one of the challenges on working on The Genie’s Therapist were related to the course’s word count restrictions. Sameer’s imagination is seemingly boundless, so any suggestion for or question about the early scenes sparked ideas for rewrites and even more scenes. Once I contained myself to focus on only the first two scenes (bolstered by the knowledge that I would be returning to the entire script in the summer), I was able to give constructive feedback for the first part of the play. This technique also helped me to spend more time thinking about the overall message of the piece, and I was able to articulate this more accurately to Sameer when we returned to the whole play.
The second challenge was developing my voice in order to give actionable feedback on how to develop characters. The play’s title indicated that in the play we would follow two main characters, a genie and his therapist. As the cast blossomed into a bevy of fun and exciting supporting characters, the motivations and voice of the two leads became less and less apparent in further revisions. In some versions of the script, the therapist would leave a session, or the genie would leave the room as the other characters discussed their relationship with him in detail. I began to advocate for these characters as much as I could within our limited time. Ultimately, Sameer sufficiently fleshed out all of the character stories, encouraged by my feedback and questions. In the final version, audiences were able to grasp the kernel of the story—the genie’s overwhelm as a metaphor for how the labor of undocumented immigrants is often taken for granted and damaging to their mental health in a generational cycle of abuse—and give excellent feedback for further improvements.
Annex Theatre live streamed both of the performances. As I’m now located in the UK, I wasn’t able to stay up late enough to watch the show live, but I was able to view it later on demand. I watched the feedback for one of the performances where the audience and cast went into a deep discussion about the importance of and methods for showcasing activism in the show. There is a realistic protest scene that intersects elegantly with the magical realism, and there are opportunities to portray what a successful therapy session might look like for our lead characters. Hearing this feedback reminds me of what draws me back to Sameer Arshad’s work time and time again: they truly speak to the power of theatre to exemplify a better world through the bodies and voices portrayed onstage.