Gabrielle Cole served 21 months in jail. When she got out, her anger and frustration consumed her.

“I didn’t know which way to turn,” said 31-year-old Cole. She credits Lifeline to Success, a ministry program for ex-felons, and later Playback Memphis with helping steer and keep her going in the right direction.

Cole was front and center on Friday as Playback Memphis, an improv theater troupe, performed during “Performing the Peace,” a project that brings ex-offenders and police together.

“I didn’t know and didn’t want to know much about the police,” Cole said. “But being in Playback, I got to see they face the same obstacles in life a lot of us face. It helped me see police in a whole different way.”

For the last four years, Playback Memphis has paired Memphis police officers with ex-offenders through the Lifeline to Success program in Frayser, but this year for the first time, young people from Job Corps were paired with officers.

They each told their personal stories, and members of the improv troupe helped them bring their experiences to life during a performance Friday morning at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Southwest Memphis.

Memphis police officer Chris Street has been involved with Playback Memphis for the last few years. He said the experience changed his life.

 “Early on with the police department I aligned myself with people that were like me: white, American, country boys and I am not going to say we were blatantly racist, but we believed in what we believed in and we functioned together and anyone that didn’t think the way we did were different and weren’t worthy of my attention or efforts,” said Street, an 18-year MPD veteran.

He added, “But then I met some of the Life-liners here, it showed me how ignorant I was and it was embarrassing. To me this is about lines. We are divided by political lines, sexual orientation and religious lines. This program is a program that helps clear the lines away. Once you’ve done that you’ve got people who are outwardly different but in large, we are all the same.”

Playback uses music and acting to promote healing and reconciliation for participants who have met separately over a few weeks. Friday, they came face to face for the first time where their stories they have shared with the Playback members were acted out through music and improv skits.

The police officers and the young people then will meet together eight more times in the coming weeks to continue to bridge the gap.

“Playback allows for and supports deep listening," said Kristin Fox-Trautman, director of grants and operations for Playback Memphis. "We use the tool to bring people together that often wouldn’t have the opportunity to be together. They will share true stories from their own lives, like what it's like to live in Memphis, to be a police officer, a young person of color in our community at this time.”