With news about Prime Stage Theatre, MCG Jazz, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh CLO
NEW PLAY CELEBRATES HILL DISTRICT FOUNDING OF FREEDOM HOUSE AMBULANCE SERVICE
Prime Stage Theatre will present the premiere of Freedom House: Giving Life a Second Chance, a new play by L.E. McCullough that dramatizes the 1967 creation of Freedom House Ambulance Service in the Hill District — America’s first mobile emergency medical unit staffed by professionally-trained paramedics.
The original Freedom House was “an extraordinary experiment in community medicine and workforce development,” founded by Black community leaders, social activists, physicians and others to serve neglected neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.
The cast includes Willa “Katy” Cotten, Cynthia Dallas, Justin Mohr, Darrin Mosley, Anne Rematt, DeVaughn Robinson and Ryan Warsing. Directed by Scott Calhoon, Freedom House is at the New Hazlett Theater, North Side, January 23 – February 1, 2026.
In a performance that brings together Prime Stage and MCG Jazz, Marty Ashby will host Pittsburgh Jazz Legacy: A Concert Celebrating the Spirit of Freedom House, on Monday, January 26, 2026. The impressive lineup includes Roger Humphries (drums), Dwayne Dolphin (bass), Max Leake (piano) and Mark Jackovic (saxophone), showcasing the music of Pittsburgh jazz greats Ahmad Jamal, Stanley Turrentine and Billy Strayhorn, along with video clips and images from the PBS documentary on Pittsburgh jazz, We Knew What We Had: The Greatest Story Never Told.
🎟️ Freedom House tickets and details: https://primestage.com/productions/freedom-house
🎟️ Pittsburgh Jazz Legacy tickets and details: https://ci.ovationtix.com/36406/performance/11736234
PSO RECRUITS BROADWAY’S BEN CRAWFORD FOR ‘SOUTH PACIFIC’
Ben Crawford, whose Broadway credentials include The Phantom of the Opera and Shrek, is among the vocalists for Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s staged concert of South Pacific, in collaboration with Pittsburgh CLO and Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.
Ron Berman conducts the concert January 30, 31 and February 1, 2026, at Heinz Hall. Crawford will lend his voice to “Some Enchanted Evening” as Emil, the French plantation owner who falls in love with an American Navy nurse during WWII, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic.
Cáitlín Burke joins the cast as Bloody Mary (“Bali Ha’i“). Songs include “Younger Than Springtime,” “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair,” and “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught.” From Carnegie Mellon, Janessa Minta will play Ensign Nellie Frobush and Matty Palmer, Lt. Joseph Cable.
South Pacific’s creative team also collaborated on a stage concert of Fiddler on the Roof, with Shuler Hensley, in February 2024.
🎟️ South Pacific tickets and details: https://pittsburghsymphony.org/production/99125/rodgers-and-hammersteins-south-pacific-in-concert
PUBLIC THEATER CAST FOR ‘ENEMY OF PEOPLE’
The Pittsburgh Public Theater cast has assembled for An Enemy of the People, Amy Herzog’s Tony-nominated adaptation set for February 4–22, 2026 at the O’Reilly Theater, and marking the return of former Artistic Director Marya Sea Kaminski, as director.
Zanny Laird (Quantum Theatre, The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk; Pittsburgh Musical Theater, Waitress; City Theatre, Little Women) and Brett Mack (Quantum, A Moon for the Misbegotten, The Seagull; City Theatre, The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley), with local actors Garbie Dukes, Martin Giles, Sam Lothard and Evan Vines (CMU Class of 2025), also making his PPT debut. They are joined by Scott Giguere and MJ Sieber, with production understudies Michael McBurney and Michale Patrick Trimm.
The play is adapted from Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play about Dr. Thomas Stockmann (Giguere), who runs up against opposition when he attempts to expose that the water in his town’s popular spa is contaminated.
🎟️ An Enemy of the People tickets and details: https://ppt.org/production/100483/an-enemy-of-the-people
KST: ‘WE STAND AT A PIVOTAL MOMENT‘
Via Kelly Strayhorn Theater:
In May 2025, Kelly Strayhorn Theater brought together visionary leaders, artists, activists, urban planners, funders, and community members in May 2025 for Owning Our Future: A Symposium on BIPOC Institutional Ownership. Over four transformative days, we examined what it means to secure, sustain, and thrive in cultural spaces led by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities, and why this work is urgent now.
We stand at a pivotal moment. As 2029 approaches and our lease at KST’s century-old home draws to a close, we imagine a future that strengthens our cultural roots and expands our collective vision. This moment calls on us to embrace possibility, turning the forces of cultural erasure, inequitable funding, and political oppression into fuel for building, owning, and thriving together, as our communities have boldly done time and again. The symposium reaffirmed that cultural spaces are not simply venues; they are fertile ground where identity flourishes, creativity thrives, and economic vitality grows, nourishing generations to come.
Rooted in joy, resistance, and intergenerational collaboration, the ideas shared were not merely aspirational; they were actionable. … This report, prepared in partnership with UrbanKind Institute, distills those insights for arts leaders and our allies nationwide. It is both a resource and a rallying cry: to invest in culture as infrastructure, to protect our histories, and to design spaces that embody equity, permanence, and pride.
Access the report here: https://kelly-strayhorn.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025.12.2_OOF_SymposiumReport_8.5×11.pdf
👉 Don’t forget—you can always explore the next two months of performances, organized by date or company, anytime at onStage Pittsburgh.
👉Did we miss your show? Send us your updates at info@onstagepittsburgh.com so we can share them in a future Call Board.
Categories: Arts and Ideas, CALL BOARD
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