On Saturday, October 24, how many ticketed audiences will be inside the Civic Arts Plaza at the same hour? Two. Dorrance Dance takes the Fred Kavli Theatre at 8 p.m. Thirty minutes earlier, a tribute to Tina Turner and Rod Stewart starts across the plaza in the Scherr Forum Theatre. Both crowds use the same garage, the same elevators and the same nearby restaurants, all in the same half hour.
The plaza goes double like this several times between mid-October and the first week of November. Those nights matter beyond the calendar because of a vote in June. The Thousand Oaks City Council approved a downtown project that rebuilds almost everything around the two theaters and leaves the theaters themselves with "no proposed changes." The downtown the city has talked about for decades will be built around this pair of stages. A busy fall night at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center is the closest current look at how it will work.
Two rooms of very different sizes
The Bank of America Performing Arts Center has two theaters. The Fred Kavli Theatre holds 1,800 seats and the Scherr Forum holds 394. The larger room is more than four times the size of the smaller one, and that gap shapes the programming.
Touring shows that sell to families and large audiences go into the Kavli. This month that means UB40 on October 25, Blippi on October 29 and the My Generation Tour on October 30. The Scherr Forum gets the closer, more specialized nights. The Irish band Altan plays there on October 15 at 7 p.m., and Stewart Copeland brings "Have I Said Too Much?" to the same room on October 28 at 7:30 p.m.
The Kavli also hosts the plaza's longest run of the month. 5-Star Theatricals' Les Misérables plays October 9 through 18. It closes the company's 2026 season, which opened with The Play That Goes Wrong in March and ran The Wizard of Oz in July. As of today, October 12, four performances remain: Friday, October 16 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, October 17 at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, October 18 at 1 p.m.
The nights the plaza runs double
With two rooms on one plaza, some dates bring two audiences at once. Here are the overlaps on the center's calendar through November 7.
| Date | Fred Kavli Theatre | Scherr Forum Theatre | Also nearby |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 17 | Les Misérables, 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. | Black Belt Spectacular, 2 p.m. | |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Dorrance Dance, 8 p.m. | Tina Turner & Rod Stewart tribute, 7:30 p.m. | CRPD Haunted Trail, 6 to 9 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Symphony Goes to Cirque, 7 p.m. | Billy Nation: A Tribute to Billy Joel, 7:30 p.m. |
October 17 overlaps in the afternoon. The Les Misérables matinee starts an hour before Black Belt Spectacular, so both audiences are in the plaza together for most of the early afternoon. October 24 is the busiest evening of the month. The Conejo Recreation & Park District's Haunted Trail & Costume Contest runs that same night from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Thousand Oaks Community Center, 2525 N. Moorpark Road. Trail departures start at 7 p.m., alongside a costume contest, trunk-or-treat, games and a petting zoo.
October 28 has one plaza show and one nearby. CelloGayageum is listed on the performing arts center's own calendar but plays the Thousand Oaks Library at 7 p.m., and admission is free. Stewart Copeland starts in the Scherr Forum half an hour later.
November 7 has the largest combined audience. New West Symphony brings Symphony Goes to Cirque to the Kavli at 7 p.m. as part of its 2026 Masterpiece Series, which follows the calendar year. Billy Nation starts in the Scherr Forum half an hour later. If both rooms sell out, that is close to 2,200 seats filled on one Saturday evening.
The center's November calendar starts early. Derek Hough Dance for the Holidays plays the Kavli on November 3, Dog Man: The Musical on November 5 and Don McLean on November 6, so the Kavli has a show on November 3, 5, 6 and 7.
One date has dropped off. "Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer," once listed for October 16, is now marked cancelled.
From the garage to the right door
On a double night, both audiences arrive through the same parking structure next to the center, and the two theaters are reached by different routes. The center's directions and parking page sets out the details.
- Parking costs $16 per vehicle on performance dates, a fee in place since July 1, 2025.
- Payment is cashless. The garage accepts Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Discover, Apple Pay and Google Pay.
- For the Fred Kavli Theatre, take the garage elevator to Level 3.
- For the Scherr Forum, take the garage elevator to Level 3, then one of the two Plaza elevators down to Level 2.
- Accessible parking is on every level, and both theaters are fully accessible.
There is no charge for parking during City Hall office hours. The Scherr Forum route has one more elevator ride than the Kavli route. On October 24 and November 7, Scherr Forum guests will be using it in the same window as an arriving Kavli audience.
For dinner before the show, the center's dining guide lists The Lakes, next door to the plaza, along with California Pizza Kitchen, Fogo de Chão, Sunlife Organics and Lassens. With curtains at 7, 7:30 and 8 p.m. on the busiest nights, all of those pre-show dinners land in about the same hour.
What the June vote keeps exactly as it is
On June 23, the Thousand Oaks City Council voted 5-0 to approve the downtown project, the Ventura County Star reported. The plan covers the existing Civic Arts Plaza and the vacant property to its west. The Star reported that the city plans to invest roughly $150 million and has already set aside roughly $45 million, and that the first construction phase could start as early as 2027. The public hearing that led to the vote took place in the Scherr Forum.
Speaking to a crowded council chamber, former city manager Grant Brimhall described the project to the council in these terms, as the Star reported:
"It is a long-held dream that this community has had to have a place the likes of which you are considering."
The project's building-by-building breakdown shows how much of that plan is built around the theaters. Both the Kavli and the Scherr Forum are listed as existing, with no proposed changes. The garage gets minor amenity and cosmetic improvements. Most of the new construction adds more places to watch a performance or eat before one:
- A Kavli events patio in the rebuilt east wing of City Hall, next to a 13,000-square-foot public market planned as a food hall
- A multi-use black box venue in the renovated west wing, programmed for stand-up comedy, jazz, children's reading hour, e-sports and rehearsal space
- An amphitheater bandshell on a one-acre site, beside the two-acre Carpenter Park and its 6,725-square-foot park restaurant
- A 142-room hotel with a rooftop restaurant and bar and a ground-floor restaurant
- A library outpost inside the renovated City Hall
Parking grows from 760 existing spaces to 1,100 in total, a net gain of 340. The plan also includes 240 residential units and roughly 47,000 square feet of commercial space.
The timeline is long. Site preparation, roadways and utilities are scheduled for mid-2027 through 2028. The mixed-use buildings, hotel, Carpenter Park and park restaurant follow from 2028 to 2031. The public market and the rest of the City Hall building are listed last, for 2031 through 2034. Until then, the Kavli and the Scherr Forum keep running their own calendars. The next evening with shows in both rooms is Saturday, October 24, starting at 7:30 p.m.
If you own a home within walking distance of the Civic Arts Plaza, the downtown project will change your surroundings in phases over the next decade. It helps to know what your home is worth before construction starts. The Dingman Group follows the project phase by phase and offers a Free Home Valuation that looks at your home in light of the plans for the plaza.
