Early into “Dishwasher Dreams,” actor-playwright Alaudin Ullah’s autobiographical solo play with music, he realizes that despite his best efforts to become his own man, he’s starting to talk, walk and act like his father.

That’s an experience many adults have sometime between their 20s and 50s. But what makes Ullah’s experience unique, entertaining and frequently quite funny is the backstory of his dad, Habib Ullah, the disabled Bangladesh immigrant who became the patriarch of Spanish Harlem’s first Bengali family. The 2018 play, which Ullah performs with the accompaniment of talented and charming tabla drummer Avirodh Sharma, opened Thursday in its West Coast premiere at the Old Globe.

In the 100-minute comedy-drama, Ullah plays himself, as well as both of his parents and a handful of others as he traces his own life growing up in the projects, his early conflicts with his dad when he first “explored” his artistic side (painting graffiti), and his belated discovery of his father’s early life and indomitable spirit.

Chay Yew directed the play on designer Yu Shibagaki’s mostly bare stage under a nine-square light grid designed by Anshuman Bhatia. Ullah’s story has many short chapters, and for each new story, he moves into a different illuminated square of the stage. It’s an effective device visually, but it slows down the momentum at times. Ullah’s long career as a stand-up comedian occasionally resurfaced on Thursday as he broke out of static storyteller mode to work the floor like a comic — pacing the stage with more animated physicality, raising the volume and speed of his voice and even tossing in a few well-timed curse words. It’s in these moments that the play really sings.

In 1947, the portion of India where Ullah’s family lived was partitioned to become East Pakistan (it would become Bangladesh 24 years later). That same year, 18-year-old Habib Ullah made a secret passage to the U.S. by working in the bowels of a ship as a coal-stoker.

Later, he found work as a dishwasher (working alongside a young Sidney Poitier), married a Puerto Rican woman and settled in Harlem. His first wife died of cancer, he ended up on disability for work-related injuries, and the age of 55 returned to Bangladesh to find a new wife. He would marry an 18-year-old pregnant divorcée who longed for a fresh start, brought her back to New York, and they raised their two sons on a steady diet of Bollywood movies, Islam and the credo of hard work.

Ullah’s own story incorporates his passion for Yankee Stadium and Reggie Jackson, his discovery of comedy and acting, and his frustration with the stereotypical and racist roles he has been offered in Hollywood. The expressive tabla player Sharma never speaks a word in the play, but his contribution is significant. He uses his hand drums to warm up the crowd, build tension, mirror the musicality of Ullah’s language and accent punch lines.

Ullah is a sincere and funny storyteller and his family’s quest for the American Dream will be familiar and appealing to many audience members. For those who’d like to learn more about Ullah and his family, he will be featured in an episode of the docuseries “America ReFramed” airing Dec. 21 on PBS stations nationwide.

‘Dishwasher Dreams’

When: 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Through Oct. 15.

Where: Sheryl & Harvey White Theatre, The Old Globe, 1363 Old Globe Way, San Diego

Tickets: $49 and up

Phone: (619) 234-5623

Online: theoldglobe.org

Actor-playwright Alaudin Ullah and tabla drummer Avirodh Sharma perform “Dishwasher Dreams” at The Old Globe.

(Courtesy of Rich Soublet II)