The Studio
A studio is where people practice.
Not perform perfection.
Not acquire somebody else's personality.
Practice.
Try something.
Notice what happened.
Adjust.
Try again.
Sexton Performance Studio was built around a fairly simple idea:
People don't need to be remade in order to develop.
They need somewhere they can pay attention to what's already working, understand what happens when the pressure goes up, and practise having more choices available when it matters.
That, to me, is a studio.
Why call it a studio?
No, there isn't currently a grand Sexton Performance Studio building with twelve rehearsal rooms and a suspiciously expensive espresso machine.
Studio describes the way I work.
A studio is a place for practice. For experimentation. For trying something, noticing what happened and trying again.
It is a place where development can happen without demanding that somebody become a more convenient, polished or generic version of themselves.
That is the spirit behind all of this.
I wasn't really studying acting. I was studying human performance.
For nearly three decades, I have worked with professional actors and performers.
At first glance, that may seem like a very specific world.
It isn't.
I was watching what happens when people are observed.
Evaluated.
Under pressure.
Trying to communicate something clearly.
Trying to connect.
Trying to perform well without losing access to themselves.
Those questions do not belong only to actors.
They show up in boardrooms, interviews, presentations, difficult conversations, pitches, creative work, leadership, performance environments and ordinary moments where something matters.
The context changes.
The human being does not.
Different rooms. Same human being.
Executives. Professionals. Founders. Creatives. Performers. And people whose path doesn't fit neatly into a title.
The setting may change, but many of the underlying questions are the same:
What happens to your voice when something matters?
What does your body do under pressure?
Can other people access your thinking and intention?
Are you actually listening and responding?
What parts of you become less available when the stakes go up?
The work uses five diagnostic lenses:
How you sound — and what happens to your voice when something matters.
How you physically communicate, regulate and occupy space.
How effectively other people can access your thinking and intention.
How you listen, respond, relate and affect the people around you.
The individuality, spontaneity and self-trust we don't want development to train out of you.
Presence isn't Element Six. Presence is what emerges when the five elements align.
What happens here?
Sexton Performance Studio is the umbrella for the work. Different parts of the studio serve different people and different moments.
Private Coaching
Individual development for people ready to bring more of themselves to the moments that matter.
Actors
Performance training grounded in craft, presence, behaviour, connection and truthful work under pressure.
From The Studio
Ideas, observations and practical thinking about presence, performance, communication and human behaviour.
Presence is a practice.
If something about the way you're showing up matters enough that you're willing to work on it, we can start there.
Private coaching online. Australia, United States and worldwide.