Prime Stage’s ‘Freedom House: Giving Life a Second Chance’ at New Hazlett (Fri., 1/30/26)

FREEDOM HOUSE: GIVING LIFE A SECOND CHANCE  by L. E. McCullough. Prime Stage Theatre. Through February 1.

The year was 1967. The location was the Hill District, then one of Pittsburgh’s predominantly black neighborhoods which, despite its proximity to the city’s medical center in Oakland, was ill-served by the larger white professional community.  That is until Phil Hallen came along. As Executive Director of the Maurice Falk Fund, he awarded funds to Freedom House Enterprises to study EMS training. A former ambulance driver himself, Hallen was deeply concerned with the state of emergency care in all major cities, but most particularly in Pittsburgh. Believe it or not, while ambulances had existed for centuries, their limited purpose was quick delivery of patients in need of emergency care. That is, no one had really explored the idea of hiring emergency care professionals to serve as ambulance drivers or as paramedics trained to help patients during transportation. And, in 1967, certainly only Phil Hallen had considered training black emergency professionals to care for patients in the Hill District.  His timing was propitious; during the following year, which included the Martin Luther King Jr. riots, Freedom House paramedics responded to more than 5,800 calls, delivered more than 4,600 patients, and saved more than 200 lives.

Prime Stage Theatre presents L.E. McCullough’s Freedom House: Giving Life a Second Chance, directed by Scott P. Calhoon. The Saturday, January 24 opening performance features a post-show audience discussion. New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square E., North Side. (C.P.O.) 

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