It's been a true joy to see Canadian singer-songwriter Beverly Glenn-Copeland's reemergence over these past few years. The Ones Ahead, his first album in 20 years, was long-listed for the 2024 Polaris Music Prize ahead of Glenn-Copeland revealing his dementia diagnosis last September — and before that, he was working on a children's show. While Caring Cabin won't become the series Glenn-Copeland had initially envisioned, its pilot will now premiere on Criterion Channel, followed by a screening at TIFF.
The 11-minute pilot episode was written and directed by filmmaker Chelsea McMullan and their husband/creative partner, Douglas Nayer Jr. Glenn-Copeland and his wife, Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland, came up with the idea for Caring Cabin — a forest-set show with puppet animals — back in April 2020. It's not the artist's first foray into children's television: he regularly performed on Mr. Dressup, and also wrote music for Sesame Street.
"We're 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," Beverly and Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland said in a statement. "This project emerged from our years collaborating to bring theatre, music, and the arts to young people across Canada and around the world, offering 'the ones ahead' tools for resilience, calming their nervous systems, and facing difficulty. 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."
The Caring Cabin pilot will premiere on July 1 on the Criterion Channel, followed by a free in-person screening on July 5 at Toronto's TIFF Lightbox.