Philosophy

In the coaching work at the Queens Studio, Ms. McClintock employs a system she calls:

 

IMAGIN-ACTION:	™
The Imagination released into playing Action

Imagination comes from the Latin "imago" and “magi” and the Greek “magos” (wise, learned in the mysteries) which, in turn, was derived from the old Semitic "mag". Hence words like imagination, imagine, image, and magic all share the same root. To use one’s imagination, to conceive and comprehend through the intellect something not perceived through the senses, to make a conjured thing real or concrete to oneself. Once that realization has occurred, the actor then transforms that image into action, fashioning a character. Curiously, at the same time an actor is engaged in the use of the imagination, his or her own better self is actualized, authenticated, and the imago of the actor is released into the world in an energized way.

“The psychological mechanism that transforms energy is the symbol or image.” -Jung

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”- Albert Einstein

“Live out of your imagination, not your history.” - Stephen R. Covey

IMAGO
The emergence and completion of the final stage after a process of metamorphosis,
the formation of functional wings enabling flight

“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” -anonymous

Martha Beck discusses imago in O Magazine on Growing Wings Jan. 2004

ACTION
is defined as the process or state of acting or of being active, an act or deed done or performed, an act that one consciously wills, the efficiency with which energy produces a reaction.

“When a person expends the least amount of motion on one action, that is grace.” – Anton Chekhov in a letter to Maxim Gorky

We are, after all, called Actors and our job is to provide the actions to fulfill the characters (words and given circumstances provided by the playwright) in the most economical, graceful, believable way possible.

“Action is sometimes understood as a verb used to designate interaction…but Action in this approach is the act of committing yourself, as the Who am I?, to making another person, image, or object feel something.” - Earle Gister/Joe Alberti in Acting: The Gister Method

And if that action is released on the breath, unencumbered by any tension, a circle of transformation occurs in the moment of playing and magically the appropriate emotions will emerge in a completely unbidden, organic way. Each actor is thus empowered in the work and able to chart his or her own individual flight path to soar as the fully actualized, authentic self.

Ms. McClintock employs the concepts of imagin-action, imagination, magic, imago, action, breath, and empowerment in both her own work as an actress and in her coaching sessions. She gratefully acknowledges the influence of her great mentors in the work most especially the late Earle Gister, Robert W. Smith, and the late Tony Van Bridge as well as Patsy Rodenburg and Leon Katz.

Earle Gister	Robert W. Smith	Tony Van Bridge

To read more about Earle Gister’s work, which has had a profound impact on many actors including Ms. McClintock, click this link to purchase Acting: The Gister Method by Joe Alberti in collaboration with Earle R. Gister

Watch Patsy Rodenburg’s Why I Do Theatre for TED
And her talk about empowerment and second circle on her own website: www.patsyrodenburg.com

Leon Katz (playwright and authority on Gertrude Stein) talks about his year with Alice B. Toklas on You Tube.