Josh Imhof | features editor

As HBO’s fictional medical drama, “The Pitt,” continues to dominate streaming, many people now associate Pittsburgh medicine with actor Noah Wyle. However, this drama is far from the city’s only claim to medical notoriety.

In the Hill District in 1967, Freedom House Ambulance Service became the first ambulance organization in the United States to be staffed by professionally trained paramedics. This revolutionary service changed the trajectory of emergency medical care across the world, while also challenging longstanding racial barriers by hiring an all-Black staff.

From Jan 23. to Feb. 1, this story was told on stage in “Freedom House: Giving Life a Second Chance” at the New Hazlett Theater in North Side.

Written by L.E. McCullough, the two-act production spans from Freedom House’s inception to its closure in 1975. It featured seven cast members, each of whom took on multiple roles.

Originally written as a staged reading, McCullough said he hoped the play would generate conversations and collaboration about today’s societal issues.

“They have to collaborate, they have to work together and they have to support each other,” McCullough said. “They have to be open to new ideas, and they have to be willing to take a risk and say yes.”

One of the main issues the show dealt with was the racism faced by Freedom House responders, including a moment where they were criticized by a hospital nurse because they were Black.

Some patients in the show also refused medical care because of the color of the paramedic’s skin.

Despite the difficult subject matter, the actors portrayed these scenes with confidence, allowing them to effectively discuss difficult topics.

In another scene, a man’s mother is shown having a stroke. When police arrive, they dismiss the woman’s issues and she dies.

Actress Cynthia Dallas portrayed the scene with a disturbing realism that was difficult to watch.

In some of these moments, music was used to supplement the events happening on stage, something McCullough said was important.

“I just can’t help not put music, even in a play that’s not a musical, at some point,” he said. “You want to use music to suggest the environment.”

Most of the songs were performed by Willa Catherine Cotten, who played dispatcher Ruth Gardner. At first, this seemed out of place for a play about paramedics. However, Cotten’s stellar vocals and the similarities in themes between songs and events of the play made it a welcome addition and a nice nod to the Hill District’s storied musical history.
 

Another homage to Hill District history comes in the form of its main set piece, the Crawford Grill. This real life location was Pittsburgh’s jazz hub in the mid-1900s, and saw the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis grace its stage.

The scenes in this historic jazz club were particularly entertaining due to some well-executed background acting. In some shows, these no-dialogue conversations can feel awkward, flat and forced. However, this time they felt full of life and personality.

“The staged reading didn’t have a location that was portrayed throughout and because of that, it lacked a certain recognition of being in the Hill District,” director Scott Calhoon said. “And because this is a story that is very important to the Hill District, we thought about ‘how do we make that happen?’”

It can be distracting to see actors engaging in expressive “off-screen” conversations, whether they are serving drinks or reconnecting with old friends, but here it added to the immersion.

Because of the small cast, Calhoon had to get creative with his stage direction.

A creative use of blocking happened during a scene where a deaf woman faints on a bus. The actors, now playing the shuttle’s passengers, sat on chairs arranged in a straight line as if they were riding 61A down Forbes Avenue.

When members of Freedom House responded, they walked to the front of the imaginary bus and even pretended to squeeze by passengers.

This choice added some variety to a show that only had one set piece.

But despite its strong points, some real-life Freedom House veterans were left wanting more.

“It was just something I sort of had to sit through,” said Darnella Wilson, a former dispatcher for the ambulance service.

Wilson joined Freedom House in 1975 after graduating high school and was upset that the play did not delve into the repercussions of the organization’s closure.

In 1975, Freedom House had its funding cut by Pittsburgh and its mayor, Peter Flaherty. The city then replaced it with a predominantly white, city-government controlled EMS system. Former Freedom House employees were only allowed to apply for jobs after Nancy Caroline, played by Anne Rematt in the show, was set to become the medical director of the new city-run ambulance service and advocated for them.

“She said, ‘If you all don’t take the people from Freedom House then [I’m not] coming. That’s how dedicated she was to Freedom House,” said Darnella Wilson, a former Freedom House dispatcher.

Even then, many would not be hired.

Staff with criminal records were fired and others were rejected based on tests they hadn’t been effectively trained for.

“You guys are getting the loveliness of Freedom House but you aren’t getting the backstabbing or the trauma,” Wilson said. “You have a hot and a cold. You have a positive and a negative. You have joy, but you don’t talk about the traumatic part. There’s something wrong with the balance of the Yin and the Yang.”

The play details the events leading up to Freedom House’s closure, and also tells the audience where some of the employees ended up.

“When you’re writing a play like this, you have to look at the overall narrative and then give the audience a way to see a positive future forward,” McCullough said.

When asked whether he felt he included enough of the repercussions and difficulties faced by the Freedom House employees, McCullough said “yes.”

While “Freedom House: Giving Life a Second Chance’s” run is over, theater goers can check out the New Hazlett Theater’s next production, “Speak,” which run from May 1 to 10. Tickets can be purchased online.

Josh Imhof can be reached at imhofj@duq.edu