Permit application to go before Select Board on March 11.

PROVINCETOWN — Brewing beer has been called an art, and recently submitted plans reveal how a local businessman hopes to combine the town's first brewery with an expanded arts venue.

Benjamin deRuyter announced last year that he planned to open a brewery at his Commercial Street restaurant, the 1620 Brewhouse, and in the process take over the Art House, a famed two-stage theater in the same building.

The loss of the theater brought outcry from the arts community — even Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner wrote a letter to a local newspaper against the move. DeRuyter had a change of heart and said he would not only expand the restaurant and add a brewery but also transform the theater into Provincetown’s only performing arts center.

“We will marry this venue seamlessly (contrary to the current setup) with an expanded restaurant and Provincetown’s first pub-brewery,” deRuyter wrote in an open letter to the town last summer.

Although he relayed his plan, the details of deRuyter’s vision were scant. That changed after he sent preliminary plans of the new space to the Select Board last month as part of a permit application for more wastewater capacity, a vital part of the planned expansion.

“We seek to develop a state-of-the-art performing arts and cinematic venue, expand year-round restaurant seating, and create Provincetown’s first brewery,” deRuyter wrote in his economic development permit application.

The center would break down the wall between the two existing stages and create one larger theater space.

Designed with Mark Cortale, the producing artistic director of the Art House, “our new year-round performing arts and cinematic venue will house 167 seats, including new balcony-level seating, a dedicated theater entrance and lobby, and modern sound, lighting and projection capabilities,” deRuyter wrote.

The Provincetown Performing Arts Center will become the premier live performance destination on Cape Cod, and Cortale will make it the breeding ground for new plays and musicals for American theater, according to the application.

“The Provincetown Performing Arts Center will develop and present these new works as world premiers in Provincetown during the off-season,” deRuyter wrote.

The space also will continue its partnership with the Provincetown International Film Festival.

The Brewhouse would add seats, and a seven-barrel brewery would be put on the ground floor with tasting room upstairs.

“The addition of the brewery and the expansion of our restaurant will create 4-6 new year-round jobs and 6-10 new seasonal jobs,” deRuyter wrote.

With the new plans comes a request for additional wastewater capacity.

The property has an allowance of 3,428 gallons and is seeking more than twice that, for a total of 8,099 gallons a day to handle the expansion.

The application is scheduled to go before the Select Board on March 11, deRuyter said, and the proposed expansion must go through several other regulatory steps, including the Historic District Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals and possibly the Planning Board.

In the best-case scenario, construction could start next winter to have the property ready for the following summer, he said.

— Follow Ethan Genter on Twitter: @EthanGenterCCT.