Jose Alexy Batisa-Ayala
Perth Amboy made him, New York raised him, Washington Heights saved him and now the Bronx loves him. He is of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent, and very proud of it, coño! Creatively, he is made up of many different elements, therefore he does not care for labels, but if we must, we can say that he is a playwright, poet, performance artist turned experimental documentary filmmaker.
After moving to New York City in 2005, with no formal training in anything related to theater, he began acting and writing for an off-off-off Broadway urban sketch comedy troupe. They were like "In Living Color" and he was like JLO, or so he thought. During his stint with the group, he grew a tremendous amount both personally and creatively. From his acting technique to his play-writing skills, to developing his “style” of comedy, he just flourished.
In 2007 he ventured off on his own to write, produce and direct his first play, FRiENDAMiGO, about a group of gay friends from Washington Heights. He took what he knew about being gay and Dominican and created a larger-than-life-laugh-out-loud comedy experience for his audience. However, after a few shows in 2008, he stopped doing anything related to theater because he wanted to focus on becoming a better person (THANK YOU OPRAH).
In 2013, he returned to theater by bringing FRiENDAMiGO back bigger and better. It was the BEST. MOVE. EVER! because since then he’s worked non-stop on other theater pieces, including: Drunk on Love: A One-Man Variety Show, POETR+OMEDY: A One-Man Dramedy and The Cruising Monologues, a play about cruising for sex.
In September 2015 he completed his first documentary-short-film, Team Salsa Nueva York, which followed him and three of his friends as they learned and rehearsed a salsa routine for a one-time special performance in NYC. The film was a personal look inside the creative process, and was a labor-of-love.
He is constantly working on something, so to keep up visit www.josebatistaayala.com
Perth Amboy made him, New York raised him, Washington Heights saved him and now the Bronx loves him. He is of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent, and very proud of it, coño! Creatively, he is made up of many different elements, therefore he does not care for labels, but if we must, we can say that he is a playwright, poet, performance artist turned experimental documentary filmmaker.
After moving to New York City in 2005, with no formal training in anything related to theater, he began acting and writing for an off-off-off Broadway urban sketch comedy troupe. They were like "In Living Color" and he was like JLO, or so he thought. During his stint with the group, he grew a tremendous amount both personally and creatively. From his acting technique to his play-writing skills, to developing his “style” of comedy, he just flourished.
In 2007 he ventured off on his own to write, produce and direct his first play, FRiENDAMiGO, about a group of gay friends from Washington Heights. He took what he knew about being gay and Dominican and created a larger-than-life-laugh-out-loud comedy experience for his audience. However, after a few shows in 2008, he stopped doing anything related to theater because he wanted to focus on becoming a better person (THANK YOU OPRAH).
In 2013, he returned to theater by bringing FRiENDAMiGO back bigger and better. It was the BEST. MOVE. EVER! because since then he’s worked non-stop on other theater pieces, including: Drunk on Love: A One-Man Variety Show, POETR+OMEDY: A One-Man Dramedy and The Cruising Monologues, a play about cruising for sex.
In September 2015 he completed his first documentary-short-film, Team Salsa Nueva York, which followed him and three of his friends as they learned and rehearsed a salsa routine for a one-time special performance in NYC. The film was a personal look inside the creative process, and was a labor-of-love.
He is constantly working on something, so to keep up visit www.josebatistaayala.com