Scene Partners: An Afternoon with Hollywood Actors Adam Shapiro & Katie Lowes

Real-life married couple, and honest-to-G!d scene partners, Adam Shapiro (The Bear, The Lincoln Lawyer) and Katie Lowes (Scandal, Inventing Anna) are about as real-life a dynamic duo as Hollywood gets, and for this evening, they’re bringing the whole story home.

The conversation kicks off with a candid look at what it’s actually been like to be Jewish in Hollywood: the rooms where it mattered, the moments it didn’t, and how their identity has shaped both the work and each other. From there, Adam and Katie open up about their individual paths, from Adam’s roots in Philadelphia and co-founding IAMA Theatre Company to Katie’s journey from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts to series like Scandal and Inventing Anna, plus the unlikely turns along the way.

The back half of the afternoon belongs to you. Adam and Katie will open the floor for an extended Q&A where no question is off limits, and depending on where the day takes us, may lead the room through a few fun, low-pressure acting exercises so you can get an actual taste of how actors work a scene.

Come for the stories. Stay for the chance to put two working actors, and a real marriage, through their paces.

Adam Shapiro is an actor, theatre producer, and pretzel entrepreneur splitting his time between sets, stages, and a soft pretzel oven. On screen, he’s appeared in The Bear, Never Have I Ever, The Continental, and The Lincoln Lawyer. On stage, he’s a co-founder of IAMA Theatre Company, one of Los Angeles’ leading theatre companies. A Philadelphia native who’s called LA home for 25 years, Adam is also the founder of Shappy Pretzel Co., bringing Philly-style soft pretzels to the West Coast. He lives in Studio City with his wife, actress Katie Lowes, and their two kids.

Katie Lowes is an actress and theatre director best known for playing Quinn Perkins on ABC’s Scandal and Rachel DeLoache Williams in Netflix’s Inventing Anna, with additional credits including This Is Us, The Continental, and The Hunting Wives. She’s also a beloved voice in animation, having appeared in Frozen, Zootopia, and Wreck-It Ralph. A co-founder of IAMA Theatre Company in Los Angeles, Katie made her Broadway debut in Waitress opposite her husband, Adam Shapiro. She lives in Studio City with Adam and their two kids, Albee and Vera.

Presented in partnership with URJ Camp Harlam.