Tina has been coaching West Delaware Speech for 15+ years, which means she has seen just about everything teenagers can possibly do on a stage, and yet she keeps coming back. As one of WD’s head coaches, she coaches Improv, One Act Play, Short Film, and Ensemble Acting. She also directs the spring play and co-directs the musical, and is part of the director team for Middle School Camp Theater, moving seamlessly from one WD activity season to the next with only the occasional brief reminder that other hobbies exist.

By day, Tina is an insurance advisor with American Family Insurance. When she somehow finds a few hours that West Delaware hasn’t claimed, she works at BIT Brewery for fun. She lives with her husband, Kevin, her mom, and two cockatiels.  Her kids and grandkids are spread from Iowa to California to Wisconsin to North Carolia to Spain, giving her plenty of reasons to travel. When she can escape, she loves traveling and beaches, preferably somewhere that has no rehearsal schedule, contest call time, or teenagers asking, “What time do I have to be there?”

Perhaps most importantly, Tina comes to WD Theatre with some serious professional credentials: she once worked as the Tasmanian Devil for Warner Bros. and appeared as Rainbow Brite in the Mother Goose Parade, as well as spent 10+ years producing and directing theater in San Diego while dabbling in acting and improv with a regional theater. So if you’re wondering how she handles the chaos of all things WD theater? The answer is simple: she trained for this.

Mr. Duncalf is entering his fifth year coaching West Delaware Speech and serves as a head coach for Individual Speech. By day, he teaches American Government at West Delaware High School, where he gets paid to talk about one of his favorite things: social studies. He also works part-time for the DNR at Backbone State Park, making his collection of jobs almost as varied as the Speech events he coaches.

Over the years, Cole has coached everything from varsity radio and short film to freshman ensemble acting, and he loves seeing what students bring to their events and watching them grow throughout the season.

Cole lives with his girlfriend, Molly, and their cats, who presumably run the household. Outside of school and Speech, his favorite things include cooking, coffee, reading, bicycle rides, and travel.

Whether he’s discussing government, drinking coffee, exploring somewhere new, hanging out with cats, Cole is excited for another season of helping WD Speech students find their event, develop their skills, and make some great memories along the way.

Jenn never figured out what she wanted to do when she grew up, so she decided to just keep adding jobs, hobbies, and volunteer gigs until no one noticed. By day, she is the Director of Resource & Program Development for the Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership. By night (and weekend...and occasionally very early morning), she coaches speech, helps with WD musical & play & Camp Theater, is a 4-H leader, volunteers with church and Castle Theater, serves on the Board for Camp Bear Creek, and generally finds new ways to keep her calendar unnecessarily complicated.

Jenn lives in Manchester with her husband, Nathan; their children, Izzie (14, 8th grade) and Ro (12, 7th grade); their bonus/exchange child, Tanya from the Czech Republic (11th grade); and their rescue dog, Beesly.

Speech and theater are very much a family affair. Jenn coaches group and solo musical theater, choral reading, and varsity and freshman mime, while Nathan is also a West Delaware speech coach. Along with coaching and being part of the co-director team of Camp Theater, Jenn has volunteered with the WD spring play for the past five years and musical the last two. After years of serving as unofficial WD Speech & theater mascots, cheerleaders, and general backstage hangers-on, Jenn’s kids are getting dangerously close to being old enough to join the team themselves... which Jenn is completely normal about.

Nathan is a professional public speaker- although most Sundays his audience isn’t allowed to give him a rating afterward. He serves as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Manchester and Zion Presbyterian Church in Coggon, which makes coaching Speech either a natural extension of his skill set or proof that he just really likes hearing himself talk.

When he isn’t preaching or coaching, Nathan usually has at least five books going at once, plays video games with the kids (or without them), performs with the Manchester Municipal Band and in the pit orchestra for WD musicals, and rocks out to ’80s glam rock and metal whenever Jenn agrees to humor him with a concert. He is also a devoted Denver Broncos fan and therefore has extensive experience processing disappointment.

Nathan lives in Manchester with Jenn; their kids, Izzie, Ro, and Tanya; and the family dog, Beesly, whose status as Nathan’s favorite family member remains a subject of debate.

At West Delaware, Nathan coaches Freshman Improv, Ensemble Acting, and various Individual events. He also helps lead Camp Theatre. Between coaching, camp, municipal band, and the musical pit, and directing a one act for spring play in 2026, Nathan has apparently decided that being married to a theater person wasn’t enough and has fully joined the chaos himself.

Hannah is entering her third year coaching West Delaware Speech, where she coaches Readers Theatre, Ensemble Acting, and a variety of Individual Speech events. By day, she is the secretary at West Delaware Middle School, giving her the strategically important role of identifying future Speech kids while they’re still in 8th grade. Consider her our recruiter, talent scout, and Speech pipeline all rolled into one.

Hannah had a pretty big summer, she married her high school sweetheart, Nicholas! The newlyweds now live together in what we can only assume is an increasingly competitive battle for storage space. Hannah quilts and loves all things crafty, while Nicholas has a LEGO habit that Hannah lovingly supports (or at least continues to allow).

Between keeping the middle school running, crafting, coaching, and quietly recruiting the next generation of WD Speech, Hannah is excited for another season of helping students discover what they can do and making sure the 8th graders know exactly what they’re getting themselves into.

Jen Z. has coached on both sides of the West Delaware Speech world, with experience in Large Group and Individual Speech. This year, she continues coaching Radio Broadcasting, where students get to put together an entire radio program without the pesky requirement of actually being seen by their audience.

By day, Jen is a paraprofessional at West Delaware High School, so she is no stranger to teenagers, busy schedules, or the chaos that comes with both. She lives with her husband and son and spends plenty of her free time keeping up with the school, work, and life events of her college-age and adult children. Apparently, the “driving kids to activities” stage of parenting eventually ends, only to be replaced by the “checking the calendar to see where everyone is this weekend” stage.

Jen is also very active in her church and enjoys finding ways to be involved in her community. Whether she’s supporting her own kids, the students she works with every day, or a team of budding broadcasters, Jen has plenty of experience cheering people on and she’s ready to tune in for another season of WD Speech.