Theater is coming to American Canyon.

The city and the Napa Valley Unified School District agreed to share the costs and use of a 400-seat theater, a venue that will be available to the community for about 180 days out of the year.

Under the agreement, the city will pay $1.5 million to build the theater.

“I think it’s well worth the investment,” American Canyon Mayor Leon Garcia said last week. There is a huge demand for venues in Napa County, he said.

Vice Mayor Joan Bennett was also in favor of contributing to the 54,100-square-foot theater. The city would not have been able to build a community theater for $1.5 million, Bennett said.

City Manager Rich Ramirez said the 400-seat theater is the right size to bring live acts to the city.

Don Evans, NVUSD’s director of planning and construction said last week the typical high school theater has 250 seats, not 400. The District Auditorium at Napa High School has 600 seats, but that theater, he noted, was built in the 1920s. Napa and Vintage high schools’ theaters have about 250 seats each, he said.

Former American Canyon Mayor Cecil Shaver said the city had discussed the need for a theater in the past.

He recalled that a Russian string quartet visited American Canyon while he was mayor. The group played outdoors during the Fourth of July festivities. It was a great performance, he said, but would have been better in a more proper venue.

Construction on the future high school is scheduled to begin next spring, and the school is slated to open in 2010.