Lisa Yves & Yochi Yakir-Avin Recognized for Their Award-Winning Collaboration
Writer Lisa Yves and visual artist Yochi Yakir-Avin transform a remarkable family story into an immersive theatrical experience
FLORIDA — Writer and musician Lisa Yves and visual artist Yochi Yakir-Avin have brought together theater, music, visual art, and personal history in Painting Life in Pictures: A Work of Art, an immersive collaborative project inspired by an extraordinary story of family separation, discovery, and reunion.
The project received a 2024 Broward County Cultural Division Artist Innovation Grant, supporting its development and presentations in Florida.
At the conclusion of a performance at The Frank gallery, Yves and Yakir-Avin took a bow alongside the cast, marking the culmination of a work in which autobiographical experience is transformed into a multidisciplinary theatrical language.
At the heart of Painting Life in Pictures is the relationship between two sisters whose lives unfolded separately for decades. Yakir-Avin grew up in Israel, while Yves was raised in Queens, New York. Although Yakir-Avin knew from childhood that she had younger siblings in the United States, Yves did not learn of her older sister until adulthood. Their eventual reunion became the foundation for both a renewed family relationship and an artistic collaboration.
The production draws upon Yves’ writing and music and Yakir-Avin’s visual art, using the different disciplines to explore memory, absence, identity, belonging, and the emotional spaces created by family histories that remain hidden for years. The work centers on family memories and Yakir-Avin’s experiences growing up as an artist while separated from her father and younger siblings.
Rather than functioning simply as scenery, Yakir-Avin’s artwork becomes an integral part of the theatrical environment, allowing visual images, performance, and music to participate in the storytelling simultaneously. The project demonstrates how different artistic languages can intersect to reconstruct experiences that words alone may not fully communicate.
The collaboration has continued to receive recognition. In 2026, Yves and Yakir-Avin were selected to receive a special Critic’s Choice Award for Painting Life in Pictures, recognizing excellence in combining musical theater and visual art to tell the story of two sisters reunited after decades apart.
From its origins in personal history to its development through the Broward County Artist Innovation Grant, Painting Life in Pictures illustrates the capacity of art to transform memory into shared experience—and a private family history into a story capable of resonating with a broader audience.
Instagram: @yochiyakiravin @lisayvesmusic
Written and created by Lisa Yves and Yochi Y. Avin
Music by Lisa Yves
Art by Yochi Y. Avin
Starring
Suzanne Corbett as The Artist
With
Andrea Bergner
Tom Ostrowski
Craig O’Connor
Laura Holland
Savannah Wallace
Zack Langway
Abbey Weintraub Sklar
Marlo Dennis
Katelyn Miller
Marcia Desmarais
Beata Schmid
Production Staff
Lisa Yves- Director, Music Director
Yochi Y. Avin- Set artwork
Ted Mitchell- Producer
Tina -Marie Thompson- Stage Manager
Abby Thompson- Projection operator
Joe Polis- Lighting design
Mark Deluzio and Mockingbird Sound- Sound
Pete Turner- Sound assistant
Anna McReynolds- Program
Musicians
Lisa Yves- Piano
Fiona Campbell- Guitar
Carol Carpenter- Ukelele
Valerie Sussman- Violin
Janelle Roussel- Drums
Filmed at the Marilyn Rodman Performing Arts Center, Foxboro MA
Special Thanks to Jenn Rathbun for being our liason
All photos credit Paintinglifeinpictures.com/
