Given the question: Facts: - death place: new york , new york - employer: park theatre , new york city - signature: william dunlap signature.svg - known for: founded national academy of design - notable works: andre '' history of the american theatre '' - death date: 28 september 1839 - spouse: elizabeth woolsey - education: studied painting in london under benjamin west - birth date: 19 february 1766 - name: william dunlap - image size: 250px - image: william dunlap engraving.jpg - birth place: perth amboy , new jersey - occupation: painter , playwright , historian Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of william dunlap .
The answer is:
william dunlap -lrb- february 19 , 1766 -- september 28 , 1839 -rrb- was a pioneer of american theater .he was a producer , playwright , and actor , as well as a historian .he managed two of new york 's earliest and most prominent theaters , the john street theatre -lrb- from 1796 -- 98 -rrb- and the park theatre -lrb- from 1798 -- 1805 -rrb- .he was also an artist , despite losing an eye in childhood .he was born in perth amboy , new jersey , the son of an army officer wounded at the battle of quebec in 1759 .in 1783 , he produced a portrait of george washington , now owned by the united states senate , and later studied art under benjamin west in london ; another teacher was abraham delanoy , with whom he had a handful of lessons in new york .after returning to america in 1787 , he worked exclusively in the theater for 18 years , resuming painting out of economic necessity in 1805 .by 1817 , he was a full-time painter .in his lifetime he produced more than sixty plays , most of which were adaptations or translations from french or german works .a few were original : these were based on american themes and had american characters .however , he is best known for his encyclopedic three-volume '' history of the rise and progress of the arts of design in the united states , '' which was published in 1834 , and which is now an invaluable source of information about artists , collecting , and artistic life generally in the colonial and federal periods .among his plays were the following : '' the father '' -lrb- 1789 -rrb- '' andre '' -lrb- 1798 -rrb- '' the stranger '' -lrb- 1798 -rrb- '' false shame '' -lrb- 1799 -rrb- '' the virgin of the sun '' -lrb- 1800 -rrb- '' memoirs of george frederick cooke '' -lrb- 1813 -rrb- '' a trip to niagara '' -lrb- 1828 -rrb- '' history of the american theater '' , 2 vols .-lrb- 1832 -rrb- in 1825 dunlap was one of the founders of the national academy of design , and taught at its school .