Though many know “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” as a 1985 animated film based on Charles Schultz’s “Peanuts” characters, the film was adapted from the 1967 stage musical of the same name. The play follows Charlie Brown’s daily struggles: failing to fly a kite, letting his baseball team down, and embarrassing himself in front of his crush.
Holden Bender-Bernstein ‘20, a theater education alumni from Emerson, is producing and directing an all-trans and nonbinary production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” which will be performed at the United Church of Christ in the Valley in North Hollywood this Saturday and Sunday.
“It’s so valuable to do a show in which even the worst things that happen are really not so bad,” Bender-Bernstein said. “In a time where it’s increasingly scary to be a trans person, it’s really valuable to live in a world where getting your kite stuck in a tree is your largest problem.”
He first came up with the idea last November, the day after Trump was elected the 47th president. Due to increasing anti-trans legislation in the U.S.—77 bills targeting trans people have been passed this year so far—Bender-Bernstein decided the play’s simplistic optimism would be refreshing for the trans community.
“It was really important that my first full piece with all trans people was something not a single soul could consider threatening,” Bender-Bernstein said. “No one can say that we’re trying to push any sort of agenda outside of ‘trans people can do things.’”
All cast and crew members identify as trans or nonbinary. Bender-Bernstein initially expected difficulties with reaching this quota, especially since he would be producing the play without a budget. Despite only promoting the production through word of mouth, he found that there was much more demand than he could have anticipated.
“I was mentally prepared to have a mediocre cast of very passionate trans performers,” Bender-Bernstein said. “I ended up having more auditions than I could even call back.”
Bender-Bernstein stresses that trans art should not just be allowed, but embraced. Each day, he took great consideration to make sure his performers had costumes that were gender-affirming, and transposed most musical numbers to fit the performers’ vocal ranges.
“There was some shame or confusion about that at first, but over time it became our norm,” Bender-Bernstein said. “Our theater doesn’t have to look or sound like cis theater, and it kicks ass.”
“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” is entirely a labor of love. Bender-Bernstein works full-time as a social worker with LA Family Housing, a homeless shelter in North Hollywood that houses 81 adults, and only in his spare time has he been working on the production. Over the past six months, he has spent his free time producing and directing simultaneously—something he says he’ll never do again.
But this hard work has generated a lot of enthusiasm: a week before its first performance, tickets for the play were already sold out. Based on this unexpected interest, Bender-Bernstein hopes to do more plays that center the trans community through his theater company, Transpose Theatricals.
“I’ve been so pleasantly surprised we have gotten no threats,” Bender-Bernstein said. “It’s been an exclusively positive response—I’m mentally prepared that it might not stay that way, but that is okay because we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing.”
Bender-Bernstein expected to face difficulties finding a venue—his primary concern was securing a space where his cast and crew could “not worry about getting weird glares.” Fortuitously, he was contacted by a stranger who told him their church would be willing to host the play.
The United Church of Christ in the Valley, part of the Metropolitan Community Churches denomination, became the venue for the play. The MCC was founded in 1968 by Troy Perry, a gay pentecostal preacher. Today, the MCC has a church in six continents and over 20 countries, and focuses on affirming LGBTQ+ rights as part of its protestant mission.
The Rev. Pat Langlois, senior pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Valley, believes that creating space for LGBTQ+ arts is the best way to uphold their values.
“We have a calling to absolutely support the trans community in light of all the horrific, ignorant, transphobic laws and executive orders that are happening in the country,” Langlois said in an interview with the Beacon. “For such a time as this, people of faith need to provide as many opportunities to support all of God’s children—especially, in this particular situation, the trans community.”
At the end of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” the characters sing a song about the things in their lives that make them happy—climbing trees, learning to whistle, pizza with sausage. Charlie Brown concludes that, despite his daily struggles, it’s the people around him that ultimately make him happy: “Happiness is anyone and anything at all / That’s loved by you.” Bender-Bernstein hopes his production can give others the same comfort.
“It’s really important to have a space to make art together with other trans people,” Bender-Bernstein said. “People can come to escape the outside world for a little while.”
