Dunlap, William (1766–1839), manager and playwright. The earliest enduring figure of the American theatre, he was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and although he apparently had little formal education, he read Shakespeare as a youth. His attraction to the theatre was consolidated during the Revolutionary War when he watched British soldiers perform in New York, where the family had moved. Although he sailed for England in 1784 to study painting with Benjamin West, the London theatres proved an irresistible lure. Watching the latest plays and classics performed by Mrs. Siddons, Charles Kemble, and the other leading performers of the day established standards which he strove to maintain throughout his career. Dunlap returned to America in 1787, where, inspired by Royall Tyler's The Contrast, he wrote The Modest Soldier; or, Love in New York for the American Company. The play was rejected, but his comedy The Father; or, American Shandyism (1789) was successfully produced. He continued to write for the company and in 1796 was made one of its partners, along with John Hodgkinson and Lewis Hallam. When Hallam withdrew from the partnership in 1797, Dunlap and Hodgkinson continued and together opened the Park Theatre in 1798. Two of his most successful plays appeared in 1798: the Revolutionary War drama André and The Stranger, based on a von Kotzebue work. Dunlap's translation initiated Kotzebue's American vogue, and he translated at least ten more of his plays. In addition to running the Park alone (after Hodgkinson's retirement), he also leased the Haymarket in Boston and worked closely with the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia.

Under his aegis the Park presented a repertory of modern and traditional works and offered English performers opportunities of appearing in America. He was forced to relinquish his management in 1805, when he declared bankruptcy, but a year later he returned to serve as assistant to the new manager, Thomas Abthorpe Cooper. Even after he retired, Dunlap continued to write plays (some sixty or seventy in all, mostly adaptations from the French or German) and in 1832 published his monumental History of the American Theatre. He also attempted to publish his plays, but only one volume was issued before his death. During his theatrical career, Dunlap endeavored, with only limited success, to overcome the snobbish preference for things British. Although he welcomed the best artists and works from overseas, he actively encouraged American actors and playwrights. He was also aware of the conflict in the theatre between commercialism and art and tried, without success, to get the government to subsidize playhouses. A highly puritanical man, he frequently eliminated what he deemed offensive passages in works he translated, and he fought futilely against the accepted practice of allowing a special section in theatres set aside for ladies of questionable virtue. Arthur Hobson Quinn concluded a long chapter devoted to Dunlap by noting, “[he] had the soul of an artist and the intrepidity of the pioneer, and his place in our dramatic literature will remain secure.” Autobiography: Diary of William Dunlap, 1930.

(b Perth Amboy, NJ, 18 Feb 1766; d New York, 28 Sept 1839). American painter, writer and playwright. After working in England with Benjamin West between 1784 and 1787, Dunlap concentrated primarily on the theatre for the next 20 years. His two main interests are documented in his large Portrait of the Artist Showing his Picture of Hamlet to his Parents (1788; New York, NY Hist. Soc.). He wrote more than 30 plays and was called by some the 'father of American drama'. He was the director and manager of the Park Theatre in New York from 1797 until its bankruptcy in 1805 and again, in its revived form, from 1806 to 1811. He began to paint miniatures to support his family in 1805 and travelled the East Coast of America as an itinerant artist. By 1817 he had become, in his own words, 'permanently a painter'.

See the Abbreviations for further details.

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(dŭn'lăp) , 1766–1839, American dramatist and theatrical manager, b. Perth Amboy, N.J. Inspired by the success of The Contrast by Royall Tyler, he began to write plays for the American Company (see Hallam, Lewis). His second comedy, The Father; or, American Shandyism, produced in 1789, was his first success. Later plays of his are excellent examples of the Gothic romance school. André (1798), a tragedy based on an actual occurrence in the Revolution, was the first native play on American material. He was a partner in the American Company (1796–97) and he later was manager of the Park Theatre, New York City (1798–1805). Dunlap was a founder and secretary of the National Academy of Design. His History of the American Theatre (1832) and History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States (1834) are invaluable source books and contain important autobiographical material. Dunlap's diary was edited by D. C. Barck in 1930.

Bibliography

See biographies by O. S. Coad (1917, repr. 1962) and R. H. Canary (1970).

(1766-1839)

1787	The Modest Soldier; or, Love in New York. The first drama by America's first major playwright. Inspired by Royall Tyler's The Contrast, it was never produced.
1789	The Father; or, American Shandyism. Dunlap's comedy of manners contrasting love among masters and servants is produced by the American Company to much critical acclaim. It is Dunlap's first produced play.
1794	The Fatal Deception; or, The Progress of Guilt. Dunlap's gothic drama in blank verse tells the story of a warrior, Leicester, whose wife has taken a lover. The play's success bolsters Dunlap's argument that American playwrights are capable of writing tragedy.
1795	Fontainville Abbey. A tragedy written in gothic form, presenting mysterious, seemingly supernatural incidents that are eventually explained as having natural causes. It is based on Ann Radcliffe's (1764-1823) Romance of the Forest and opens in New York to warm praise.
1796	The Archers; or, The Mountaineers of Switzerland. One of America's first musical plays, this opera adapts Friedrich von Schiller's William Tell and concerns the contrasting ideas of liberty and anarchy.
1798	André: A Tragedy. A blank-verse tragedy about the British spy's execution, it is considered superior to most other historical dramas of the time. Dunlap's evenhanded treatment of both sides in the conflict upset some playgoers. The playwright would adapt the drama into a patriotic extravaganza, The Glory of Columbia, in 1803.
1799	The Italian Father. A drama about a father who disguises himself to follow and monitor his delinquent daughter. Based on Thomas Dekker's (c. 1572-1632) The Honest Whore, Part II, the play is acclaimed by contemporary audiences as well as modern critics. Dunlap considered it the best of his numerous plays.
1803	The Glory of Columbia. Dunlap revises his blank-verse tragedy André (1798) into this musical patriotic spectacular for holiday performance.
1812	Yankee Chronology. A very popular patriotic play produced at the height of the War of 1812. American sailor Ben Bundle recounts the naval battle between the Constitution and the British Guerriere, a battle that took place less than three weeks before the production. The play also includes a song of the same name, chronicling the entire American Revolution.
1813	Memoirs of the Life of George Frederick Cooke, Esquire. Two volumes of memoirs are published after the famous author's death. Dunlap, Cooke's former assistant, had been granted access to his journal and presents a frank look at a man rocketed to fame by great talent and brought low by alcoholism.
1815	The Life of Charles Brockden Brown. The book contains Brown's lectures and correspondence, with transitions and critical remarks by Dunlap. Although considered Dunlap's worst work, with poor organization and lack of a clear focus, it is the primary source of biographical information on Brown and his only biography published before 1949.
1828	A Trip to Niagara; or, Travellers in America. This play, about an English visitor whose constant complaints about America gradually give way to admiration, features panoramic set designs that make it one of the earliest important American theatrical spectacles, giving Dunlap his greatest commercial success.
1832	The History of the American Theatre. The first history of the American stage, the work is drawn extensively from the author's own life in the theater. It is a wellspring of anecdotes, descriptions of prominent figures, observations on the state of the industry, and rich personal accounts of the dramatic art that Dunlap strove to improve.
1834	History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the U.S. This is the foremost work on early American art, especially valuable for the author's firsthand knowledge and use of original sources. It is the primary resource for most information about early American painters.
1836	Thirty Years Ago; or, The Memoirs of a Water Drinker. The playwright's only novel is a temperance story about an actor's battle with alcohol.
1839	History of the New Netherlands, Province of New York, and State of New York. A meticulous early history of New York, which Evert Augustus Duyckinck's Cyclopaedia of American Literature (1875) would call "a work of industry and research." In press at the time of Dunlap's death, it demonstrates Dunlap's disdain of slavery, prejudice, and mistreatment of Native Americans.

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