Fritz Coleman NBC weathercaster and longtime comedian Fritz Coleman will perform a stand-up show at 8 p.m. Sat., July 11 at the Fun Shway Comedy Theater in Thousand Oaks. Tickets are $20 and include parking and refreshments.

Coleman is donating his act and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Regenerate, a Conejo Valley nonprofit that helps prevent teen suicide through film and media public service announcements.

"We're trying to build a nice theater where people can afford to go and have a fun time," said comedian Vic Dunlop, a Simi Valley resident and theater organizer. "In other places you can spend $60 to $80 on drinks and food in one night, and I just think it's kind of ludicrous, especially in these times right now. I think we need to give a little bit back."

This is the second show at the 120-seat theater, which opened in May. The first show, offered free to introduce the facility to the community, was sold out. Dunlop was surprised by the community's response.

"We didn't know what to expect, but we had people standing," Dunlop said. "It's a very intimate setting, very cool, very hip."

The theater is inside the Four Friends art gallery owned by Larry Janss, a local real estate developer, photographer and art collector. Janss opened the gallery in December partly as a way to curate his art collection.

"The room's real purpose is as a gathering place. I wanted to use it as a filming studio and a place for small concerts or lectures," Janss said.

Dunlop, who knew Janss through their mutual involvement on the Regenerate board, approached Janss about doing comedy shows at the gallery. Dunlop has been a comedian, actor, and television and film writer and producer for 35 years.

"I've known Vic for quite a while. He's just as funny a guy as can be," Janss said. "He pitched the idea of let's make them laugh and I said, 'Sure.'"

The Asian style of the gallery prompted Dunlop to come up with the Fun Shway Comedy Theater name, a play on the ancient Chinese aesthetics discipline known as "feng shui."

Dunlop hopes to offer a variety of events, including improvisation, children's comedy and holiday-themed performances. The theater will host hypnotist Gary Conrad at 8 p.m. Sat., Aug. 15. Each performance features a "meet and greet" with the artist.

"I want to make it a relaxed comedy experience rather than like the hustle and bustle of L.A.," Dunlop said.

Theatergoers will be able to view the gallery's current exhibit, a collection of Tibetan monastery doors. Janss and his wife purchased the doors during a trip to the Himalayan region. While visiting an art shop in downtown Katmandu, the couple noticed one of the highly decorative doors. The shop owner took them to a warehouse where many similar doors were being stored. Janss purchased 20. He explained that Tibetans had hidden the doors and other cultural and religious items in caves in anticipation of the Chinese cultural revolution that came to Tibet.

"These artworks stayed in hiding for 50 years. It's only in the last 10 years that Buddhists are bringing them out of the mountains and selling them to raise money to rebuild their monasteries," Janss said.

He next plans to exhibit his collection of fine arts photography from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. He's considering whether to invite outside artists to exhibit their work at the gallery. Janss studied photography in Yosemite National Park with photographer and environmentalist Ansel Adams.

"I became his intern for a while and became his friend. I spent a lot of time with him," Janss said. Occasionally Adams and some of the other photography students, many of whom became famous for their work, would put their photos up for sale, Janss said. At that time they were affordable, so he purchased them.

"That kind of got under my skin, to have something really lovely on the wall and to escape when I look at them," Janss said. "It's kind of a surrender."

The gallery is open by appointment only. Call (805) 4974022 or visit the website www.fourfriendsgallery.com.

Although tickets for the comedy event will be sold at the door, Dunlop recommends purchasing ahead of time by calling (805) 497-7691. The gallery/theater is at 1408 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd.