A children’s show pilot starring Black trans music legend Beverly Glenn-Copeland will be coming to a screen near you in July.
The production company Visitor Media announced on Tuesday that the show, Caring Cabin, will be available for streaming on the Criterion Channel starting July 1. There will also be a free screening of the 11-minute pilot at TIFF Lightbox in Toronto on July 5, featuring a performance from Glenn-Copeland himself and his wife Elizabeth, as well as a Q&A with the team behind the show. According to a press release, Caring Cabin blends “Glenn’s signature warmth and legendary music with handmade puppets and a lush forest setting,” and features the musician “and his animal friends” learning “valuable lessons about nature, coping with change, and the power of community.”
In a statement in the press release, the Glenn-Copelands shared that they were “thrilled that Caring Cabin has found a home on the Criterion Channel, and we’re so looking forward to sharing it with audiences in person at TIFF.” The couple added that the pilot came from their years of sharing the arts with young people, and “offering ‘the ones ahead’ tools for resilience, calming their nervous systems, and facing difficulty.” As the press release notes, the couple “spent years leading music and theatre workshops for young people in community settings.”
“The core to that work, for us, has been community — and we’re so grateful to the community who came together to make this beautiful pilot,” they said.
According to producer Sean O’Neill, hosting such a show was a lifelong dream for Glenn-Copeland, who appeared as a series regular on the Canadian children’s program Mr. Dressup for decades, in addition to composing music for Sesame Street. But as Glenn-Copeland told Them in a 2021 profile, as much as he loved working with and for children, he felt uncomfortable with being cast in “female” roles on Mr. Dressup, though he didn’t realize he was trans at the time.
“Elizabeth had a vision for a series that would bring together Glenn’s warmth and playfulness, inspiring music, and amazing puppets,” O’Neill said in the press release. “The project is a tribute to Glenn’s spirit — a celebration of his music, his joy, and the path he has spent a lifetime laying for others.”
