Ad Astra Human Performance

The Crucible

A change-leadership game of Kotter and Hogan.
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Instructor console

Roles are acted — who plays a part, and which Hogan type they play it as, need not match anyone’s real style. Casting a quiet person as a domineering Bold is exactly the point: it’s safe precisely because it’s a part.

The scene

Deal the briefs

Cast the characters two is the sweet spot

While it runs, and afterwards observation prompts

Cue

The Crucible

The recurring cast

The same people appear in every scene. Assign each a Hogan type from Under the Skin and let it ride across all eight — the shadows compound.

How to run a scene · SBT

  1. Set the scene. Read the situation aloud — the night, the pressure, what’s just happened.
  2. Cast the two protagonists. Give each their aim — and their Hogan acting card. Each one is charged to get their way, by leaning on their strength until it overplays. Everyone else observes.
  3. Run it, 4–6 minutes. Let the collision happen. Don’t rescue it.
  4. Freeze. Stop the scene at the marked moment — usually just as a strength has become a liability.
  5. Group discussion. Work the three prompts on the card: what we saw, how each type might react, and how each protagonist could curb their shadow.

The eight scenes

Each is a self-contained two-hander: a cold open, two protagonists each charged to get their way (or just overplay their strength), a freeze to stop on, and a group discussion — and each is a link in one continuous arc (the thread at the foot of every card). Dot colours mark the Hogan direction each clash tends to pull: against  away  toward.