Our Story

This coming January, Prime Stage Theatre will premiere a new stage work that tells a uniquely Pittsburgh story of innovation, compassion and civic empowerment. Freedom House: Giving Life a Second Chance by playwright L.E. McCullough dramatizes the 1967 creation of Freedom House Ambulance Service, America’s first mobile emergency medical unit staffed by professionally-trained paramedics.  The world premiere production runs for 7 shows Jan. 23-Feb. 1, 2026 at New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, on Pittsburgh’s Northside, and is sponsored in part by Arts, Equity, & Education Fund. Directed by Scott Calhoon, the cast includes Willa “Katy” Cotten, Cynthia Dallas, Justin Mohr, Darrin Mosley, Anne Rematt, DeVaughn Robinson and Ryan Warsing. Tickets (adult $40, artist/educator $25, groups $25, student $20) are available by calling (412) 320-4610 x10 or ordering online at https://primestage.com/productions/freedom-house/. During its 8-year lifespan, Freedom House served as the foundational model for today’s paramedic profession and modern EMS departments around the world. Initiated in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Hill District, Freedom House was an extraordinary experiment in community medicine and workforce development involving physicians from the University of Pittsburgh, social activists from Freedom House Enterprises, philanthropists from Maurice Falk Medical Fund and hospital staff of Mercy and Presbyterian hospitals, from where the Freedom House ambulances operated. Crucial to the program’s success were the Hill District men and women whose dedication and skill transformed themselves, their community and the nation.  Freedom House:  Giving Life a Second Chance is the first-ever stage production of the Freedom House story, and it portrays a topic that couldn’t be more timely, as America’s public health resources face an ongoing wave of new challenges.
“The Freedom House story is an important story of resourcefulness and collaboration, and it’s a story our community has told us it wants to see dramatized onstage,” says Prime Stage Theatre artistic director Dr. Wayne Brinda. Freedom House:  Giving Life a Second Chance is L.E. McCullough’s most recent commissioned work for Prime Stage Theatre. In 2023, his play Perseverance about a Pittsburgh Holocaust survivor received a National Endowment for the Arts production grant as a co-production with Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. Beyond mere entertainment, Brinda points out that Freedom House:  Giving Life a Second Chance has significant value as a teaching and recruiting tool.  “It can be easily performed at a variety of venues including schools, community centers, neighborhood associations, medical and hospital facilities. We hope it serves as a way to let more people know about the transformative and lifesaving care EMS and public health agencies perform every day in Pittsburgh and across the U.S.”  Since its founding in 1996, Prime Stage Theatre has presented over 100 plays that introduce student and family audiences to classic and contemporary works of world literature.  The theatre’s 2025-26 season opened Nov. 7-16 with Mr. Edgar A. Poe Presents: Tales of Mystery, Horror & Imagination by Lawrence C. Connolly, the first of three world premieres that include Freedom House:  Giving Life a Second Chance by L.E. McCullough (Jan. 23-Feb. 1, 2026) and Speak by Tammy Ryan (May 1-10, 2026). For more information on Prime Stage Theatre’s current season, contact Connie Brinda, Prime Stage Theatre General Manager at (724) 773-0700 or cbrinda@primestage.com.__________________________ WHAT:  Prime Stage Theatre presents the world premiere of Freedom House: Giving Life a Second Chance; written by L.E. McCullough, directed by Scott Calhoon; sponsored in part by Arts, Equity, & Education Fund WHERE:  New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, Pittsburgh PA 15212 WHEN:  7 shows running Jan. 23-Feb. 1, 2026 

•  Fri. Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m. (Preview Night, pay-what-you-can admission) 

•  Sat. Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m. (Opening Night)

•  Sun. Jan. 25 at 2:30 p.m.

•  Fri. Jan. 30 at 7:30 p.m.

•   Sat. Jan. 31 at 2:30 p.m. (Sensory Inclusive, pay-what-you-can admission)

•  Sat. Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m.

•  Sun. Feb. 1 at 2:30 p.m. (Audio Describe and Live Caption, sponsored by Downtown Pittsburgh Lions Club); On-Stage Pre-Show, Actor Voice ID and/or Touch Tour at 1:30 p.m., Audio Pre-Show at 2:15 p.m.; Performance at 2:30 p.m. Real Time Live Caption Performance by Advanced Realtime Captioning Solutions)

TICKETS:  Tickets (adult $40, artist/educator $25, groups $25, student $20) are available by calling (412) 320-4610 x10 or ordering online at https://primestage.com/productions/freedom-house/.

This showcase has featured early films from Ryan Coogler (Sinners, Black Panther), Stephen Caple Jr. (Creed II, Transformers: Rise of The Beast) and Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard, Bob Marley: One Love).

In Good Hands tells the compelling story of Dr. Diana Asante, a pediatric emergency physician navigating the challenges brought on by her last patients of the shift: a white boy unfamiliar with a Black female doctor, and an African American teenager caught in a dire situation with law enforcement. These incidents were drawn from real-life events of Dr. Owusu-Ansah, who works in a nationally recognized children’s hospital in Pittsburgh and also recently consulted for HBO’s The Pitt.

The film was written by Yasmine Crawley, a former CBS Page who currently works as an assistant and production associate at See it Now Studios, which produces documentaries and unscripted series for Paramount+ and CBS. Crawley and Dr. Sylvia participated in the PITTch Storytelling Initiative, which was funded in 2021 by a Richard King Mellon Foundation grant to help create more local career opportunities in southwestern Pennsylvania's growing film industry. In Good Hands was made as a community teaching film with a diverse group of students and community members working in front of and behind the camera, led by a producer/professor with Hollywood experience.

The film features a talented cast, including Chanell C.J. Harris in the lead role of Dr. Asante. After spending 18 years in LA working behind the lens in the music industry,  winning ASCAP FILM & TV Award for her original work on the BET hit show Real Husbands of Hollywood, Harris moved back to her native Pittsburgh, where she has curated and created original music for "The Writer's Landscape," a permanent exhibition at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. The film was shot by cinematographer Haji Muya, a Somali refugee who learned his craft in Pittsburgh, believing that media at its best could do what the city’s famed Fred Rogers suggested, and “make good attractive.”

In Good Hands tackles complex themes of racial bias and equity in the medical field.

“We aim to create positive change through storytelling that highlights the realities and complexities of patient interactions in emergency medicine,” said Dr. Owusu-Ansah, who is also the medical director of Prehospital and Emergency Medicine services at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

The film was directed by Nick Buchheit, at the invitation of his friend and collaborator, cinematographer Muya. Buccheit is a filmmaker and co-founder of Covalent, a video production company headquartered in Pittsburgh. He directs commercials and writes for brands ranging from GoDaddy to Big Brothers Big Sisters. After spending over a decade shaping and guiding narratives for corporate America, Buccheit is championing more personal, creative, and socially reflective stories that showcase his passion for grounded performances and emotionally honest narratives, whether serious, strange, or somewhere in between.

In Good Hands was produced by Carl Kurlander, who returned to his hometown to teach after a career as a screenwriter (St. Elmo’s Fire) and TV writer/producer (Saved By the Bell)  He ended up on The Oprah Winfrey Show for leaving Hollywood to teach at the University of Pittsburgh, where he ended up producing a number of award-winning documentaries on the Salk polio vaccine, transplant pioneer Dr. Tom Starzl, and a new film on playwright August Wilson — all Pittsburghers who helped change our world. He is also the founding producer of the Pittsburgh Lens at Pitt’s Center for Creativity, which ran The PITTch Storytelling Initiative.

“We had over 70 entries for PITTch, and what stood out about Dr. Sylvia’s story and Yasmine’s script was how impactful it was, but also how somehow we have yet to see a lead character in a medical drama or movie who is a female African American. Dr. Sylvia’s work to get the Freedom House Ambulance Service story out there and reboot that historic EMS program is inspiring, and it is fitting that when Yasmine was a student at Pitt, she worked on the documentary we are doing on playwright August Wilson, who was also inspired by the compelling stories he found in Pittsburgh,” said Kurlander.