The Genie from Aladdin has always been one of the most loved and cherished characters of all time. His humor and love has captivated audiences since 1992, but genies have captured attention for thousands of years. Inspired by Disney’s take on the “genie of the lamp,” senior Charlotte Constantinides gives him a new story, one we haven’t heard. She told the story of how Genie became a genie.

By writing her own story, Constantinides allowed herself complete creative freedom. She changed the gender of Genie to a female and made her human. She created her own characters and made it a tale of love and selflessness.

“I’ve always really admired the Genie because of his friendship and complete selfless friendship for Aladdin, because he’s a slave, but he’s so sweet and such a good friend and I wanted to explore that,” said Constantinides.

Her “statement” was “we will selflessly do anything for the people we love.”

“The relationship the Genie has with the prince…kind of reflects myself in that I do give everything to the people in my life, and I would do anything for them because I find love to be true selflessness,” she said.

Even though she had doubts about her character at times, even going as far as to switch characters at one point, as well as having difficulties writing near the beginning, Constantinides still thought it was a great experience and learned so much.

“I’ve learned a lot of things. [I’ve learned] that I can stand in front of people for thirty minutes and not mess up. I’ve learned to have faith in myself in a lot of aspects that I didn’t before, and to just keep going,” she said.

After four years of theater, the most valuable thing she has learned is not to doubt herself, something that is not easily taught or forgotten.