From Bangladesh to Bengali Harlem and Hartford Stage, a conversation with actor and playwright Alaudin Ullah

Where We Live · Mar 9, 2022 · 49m

What does it mean to be American? In Dishwasher Dreams, now playing on Hartford Stage, writer, actor, and comedian Alaudin Ullah explores the “otherization” of brown Muslim Americans in America, and by extension, Hollywood.

Ullah grew up in New York City, playing video games, eating hamburgers, listening to hip hop, and cheering for the Knicks. So when the only roles offered to him in Hollywood were that of a terrorist or a bumbling South Asian, Ullah hit pause. Now, his documentary, In Search of Bengali Harlem produced by PBS, takes a hard look at the soul of the American Dream…