Janet & Ray Scherr Forum

The Scherr Forum is the small house at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center in Thousand Oaks, a level below the plaza where the Fred Kavli Theatre has its doors. It has 394 seats. Even the back row feels close, and that intimacy is why you'd pick a show here over one next door.

The City of Thousand Oaks owns the center and its Cultural Affairs Department runs both theatres, booking its own season and renting the rooms out. Across the complex that adds up to dance companies, chamber music, jazz, comedy, film and kids' programs. The Forum tends to get the smaller of those, plus rentals like a holiday film night with a live orchestra.

Finding the entrance takes one extra step. Leave the garage off Dallas Drive by the elevator to Level 3, walk out onto the plaza, then ride one of the two Plaza elevators down to Level 2 for the Forum lobby. Show-night parking is $16, cards and phones only, but free while City Hall is open, which helps for a weekday matinee.

Staff screen bags at the entrance, so a wallet or small clutch is the easy way through. Water bottles and outside snacks stay in the car. Kids are welcome at most shows, but each one needs a ticket, and parents of small children should skip anything where the room has to stay silent.

Restrooms are in the main lobby. If you need a wheelchair space, call the box office before the show, because the center stopped lending wheelchairs.