Samantha Bryson - The Commercial Appeal -

Playback Memphis, a local theater group that replays stories recounted by audience members, will experience a little playback of their own this weekend when excerpts of their performance will be featured on NPR's Bob Edwards Show.

Many of their shows are geared towards helping viewers find healing from violence, loss or trauma, and they frequently perform for local nonprofit groups.

"We feel that any story, if we have the artistic skills and the listening skills, we can give that story meaning and beauty on the stage," says Playback founder Jonathan Fox in an interview with Edwards.

Playback Theater companies have been springing up all over the nation and the world since 1975, when Fox founded the first one in upstate New York.

Playback first came to Memphis in 2008 when Virginia Murphy, who had been living in New York after earning her degree in drama therapy, decided that her hometown would be a perfect venue for the innovative storytelling methods.

"It felt even then that it was a really organic fit to Memphis, the South being a place where storytelling is so much a part of our culture," Murphy said.

"We wanted to use Playback as a tool to bring people together, to give voice to the unique experience that is Memphis -- what's rich and wonderful about it and what's unique and challenging about it."

The group has grown to include just under 10 volunteer actors and now boasts partnerships with local nonprofit organizations such as St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Victims to Victory, and The Urban Child Institute.

"Our job is really to deeply listen to the teller and to playback what we call the heart, or the essence of what that person is sharing," Murphy said.

The radio broadcast, which was first aired on Sirius radio in mid-May, includes interviews with Fox and Murphy as well as excerpts from a performance by Playback Memphis at Caritas Village.

The broadcast will air locally on WKNO 91.1-FM at 5 p.m. on Sunday.