Participating Artists
Dallas artists across a variety of disciplines will come together to lend their talents to Half of These Are Lies—writing, acting, and facilitating small-group discussion.
Margaret Barrett
FacilitatorMargaret grew up moving all over the globe, with her teenage years taking place in Germany. She has called Dallas home for the last fourteen years. Margaret has her Masters in Music from Baylor University and a Masters in Counseling from Amberton University, completed 16 years later. She provides counseling as an LPC-Associate at East Dallas Therapy, and supervised by Amanda Stretcher Lewis, LPC-S.
Having a background as an artist, Margaret values creativity, exploration, and authentic self-expression in and outside of the therapy room. Her priorities are to listen deeply, ask good questions and to help people find freedom to best understand and embody their true selves.
Margaret has affection for wild things, among which are her three growing children, a front yard full of edible plants, artistic expression of any kind, and copious shared laughter on the front porch.
Cameron Casey
Actor & WriterCameron Casey is a non-binary painter, theatre artist, and arts fundraiser from Fairview, Texas.
Their play, Bunker, or the Whale was recently featured by Echo Theatre as part of their Echo Reads series. In 2024, they were selected for the inaugural cohort of Thought Process: Second Thought Theatre’s play development group. Their written work has also been featured at Dallas’s Latino Cultural Center in Bridges: Texas and T, an interview theater piece connecting transgender Texans state-wide. Other local writing credits include Dirty Dirty Night Squirrel (IMPRINT Theatreworks), Amarillo Prairie Fire (Bishop Arts Theater Center), and sketch comedy for The Guinea Pig.
Find Cameron on socials @cameronthecasey
Sarah Galaro
Event OrganizerSarah is a Dallas-based writer who is passionate about creative community. She is active with Art House Dallas, serving as an Awaken Creativity group lead. A proud dabbler, Sarah writes and shares short fiction, personal essays, and poetry.
Her work has been published in The Manifest-Station, The Literary Nest, and will also appear in the upcoming fall issue of The North Lit Review.
In 2023, Sarah co-founded Tabletop Marketing, bringing her love of story and connection to mission-driven organizations.
Sarah is mom to two wild and creative daughters.
Lizzie Combs
Event OrganizerLizzie Combs is a writer, actor, and storyteller from Dallas. Since graduating from Furman University with a B.A. in Theatre Arts, Lizzie has been involved in the Dallas arts community as a writer and actor.
Her short plays have been featured in local festivals, including two editions of IMPRINT Theatreworks' First Impressions festival and the nationwide Hear Me Out New American Monologue Festival, where she won third place. Lizzie is an alumna of Second Thought Theatre's Thought Process playwriting cohort.
In 2023, Lizzie co-founded Tabletop Marketing with her sister, Sarah, bringing her storytelling expertise to nonprofits and mission-driven organizations
Parker Davis Gray
WriterParker Davis Gray is a Dallas based Actor, Teaching Artist, and Playwright. His premiere play, INCARNATE, received its World Premiere at Second Thought Theatre in 2025, and received a staged reading at Undermain Theatre for their Whither Goest Thou America Festival in 2022.
He was also chosen as one of the inaugural playwrights for the Digital Development Project in 2023 for his play How to Lose a Sleep Paralysis Demon in 10 Days. More of Parker’s horror plays can be found on New Play Exchange.
Parker’s stage acting credits include work at Dallas Theater Center, Casa Mañana, Amphibian Stage, Theatre Three, Circle Theatre, Kitchen Dog Theater, Stage West, Undermain Theatre, Shakespeare Dallas, WaterTower Theatre, Lyric Stage, Theatre Arlington, Shakespeare in the Bar, and Second Thought Theatre where he currently serves as the Executive Director.
Parker’s voice can be heard in various shows with Crunchyroll, most notably as Soji in Dead Account, and can be seen in several films, including the Dallas-made horror film The Finale. BFA in Acting from SMU.
Lauren Urso Gray
Actor & FacilitatorLauren Urso Gray is a Dallas-based artist, vocalist, and creative entrepreneur. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Arts Mission Oak Cliff, where she's exploring her relationship to performance, rehearsal, authenticity, audience pressure, and spontaneity, with public performances on November 13 and 14, 2026.
In 2021, she founded Your Authentic Voice, a vocal coaching studio working with singers across the country. She now mentors artists and creative entrepreneurs, helping them put their work into the world and make meaningful impact by being unapologetically themselves.
You can find Lauren “yes and”ing at Stomping Ground, wheelin’ and dealin’ on Facebook Marketplace, or reading Dungeon Crawler Carl to keep up with her husband’s literary recap podcast, Fantasy FanFellas.
Say hi on IG: @your_authentic_voice
Jennifer Locke
FacilitatorJennifer Locke is a fiction writer, poet, USA Today bestselling nonfiction ghostwriter, and book coach who helps entrepreneurs and thought leaders hone their message and make it unforgettable. Whether writing fiction or nonfiction, Jennifer is always looking for a good story. She believes in the power of stories to build bridges and transform lives.
Jennifer believes that everyone is creative and works to help folks remove the boundaries they place between themselves and their good ideas. Two of her favorite phrases are “Why not?” and “Sounds fun!” When not reading or writing, Jennifer is most likely driving her daughters somewhere or listening to an Italian language-learning podcast (or most likely, both at the same time).
Taylor Kurtz
FacilitatorTaylor Kurtz is secretly a socially awkward giraffe who moonlights as a writer, game designer, and developer (his day job is marketing - -the second most common career for anyone with an English degree).
His interests include classic literature, whiskey, grabbing things (leaves) from tall places, and being the type of nerd that talks about his book club every chance he gets.
Taylor is currently working on supporting his local writing community while occasionally being distracted by writing his own debut novel.
Becca Miller
ActorBecca Miller is a Dallas-based actress, vocalist, and music director. A graduate of Dallas Baptist University, she has been performing in theaters across DFW for the past 15 years and was last seen as Gabrielle, one of the stepsisters, in Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella at the Hopeful Theatre Project.
In addition to her performing work, Becca also leads Storydwellers, a nonprofit that helps actors explore spiritual formation through their craft. Offstage, you can find her musing about art & faith in an Oak Cliff coffee shop or playing fairy godmother to her friends' kiddos.
Maggie Philpot
Writer & FacilitatorA fourth generation Fort Worthian, Maggie officially fulfilled all life goals when she moved into a historic home with a rolling ladder bookcase.
She holds a MA in humanities and a DMin in “The Sacred Art of Writing.” Maggie weaves the stories of young, complex characters who discover their internal power through harrowing experiences. Publications include an essay in the The Modern Saints by Gracie Morbitzer and God Is Coming: An Advent Journey.
She is mom to two precocious sons, wife to a marvelous husband she calls Husband, human-who-pets to two incorrigible dogs, and a ghost plot developer for mystery thrillers in her spare time.
Christine Switzer
FacilitatorChristine Switzer is a storyteller and poet with a heart for creating literary art and community spaces where people can encounter Jesus and His invitation to grow and flourish.
Through writing workshops, she encourages people in everyday creative practice, as she believes engaging creatively with our stories and our world can transform our lives and our communities.
Kenna Boles Prior
WriterKenna, a multidisciplinary artist, restored a 125 yr old farmhouse for a studio – The Purple Farmhouse, home of the Poly-Pop Steamroller for North Texas Printmakers. She is a printmaker, painter, seamstress, and explores mixed media.
She has published over 150 craft instructions, and is currently working on a memoir, poetry, and other writings. She has enough projects to last her lifetime.
She is the Art Director at Baruch HaShem Messanic Synagogue, board member of Texas Jewish Arts Association, active in Art House Dallas, and participates in Historic district activities in her community Cedar Hill Tx.
Mark Quach
ActorSurvivor enthusiast and board game fan. He is DFW based theater artist and has been involved with the scene for the past 15 years.
He has worked with different theaters in DFW and across the country including; Theatre 3, Dallas Theater Center, Casa Mañana, Dallas Children's Theater, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, A.D. Players, and Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre. Cruise Line and National Tours include; Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer and Disney Cruise Line.
He has also worked with Broadway Dallas' High School Musical Theater Awards as a choreographer and coach.