WHAT WE DO

The Lucky Penny creates and presents contemporary performance in Atlanta, Georgia. Co-founded in 2011 by choreographer Blake Beckham with production maven Malina Rodriguez, The Lucky Penny exists as a production outlet for the duo’s collaborative dance works and an organizational umbrella to house ongoing experimental projects. The Lucky Penny’s mission is to advance artistry and cultivate community through it’s daring performance work. The company’s achievements have been celebrated with a prestigious SEED Fund Grant from The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation; Luminary Award from ArtsATL; Civic Impact Award from Atlanta's Center for Civic Innovation; competitive grants from Idea Capital Atlanta, Fulton County Arts Council and South Arts; and many of Creative Loafing Atlanta’s “Best Of” distinctions.

WHO WE ARE

Blake Beckham and Malina Rodriguez have been building a body of collaborative performance work together since 2009, when they met under the auspices of Rodriguez’s breakthrough project, Dance Truck. Since then, they have helped to transform Atlanta's performance community through curation, community building, presenting new work, and creating memorable original pieces staged in a dynamic array of  spaces.

BLAKE BECKHAM is a choreographer, educator, producer, and Executive Director of The Lucky Penny. Beckham has produced her own choreographic works since 2001. She is well-known for engaging large teams of multi-disciplinary collaborators to transform theatrical spaces into evocative interior worlds. Blake holds a BA in English and Dance from Emory University, and MFA in Choreography from Ohio State. She has held faculty appointments at Agnes Scott College and Emory University. Her current research interests include queer embodiment, somatics, improvisation, and using movement a tool to train sensitivity and awareness.

MALINA RODRIGUEZ is a builder, producer, art director, and technical theater specialist. She has worked with theater students at Portland Community College, University of La Verne, Georgia Tech and Emory. Malina is currently the Technical Theater Coordinator at Theater Emory and is a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (Local 927).  She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Technical Theatre and Design from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Over the last 17 years, Malina has served as a designer and technician for a vast array of performing artists in settings that range from the nation’s finest concert halls to complex outdoor rigs, and memorable, sculptural environments constructed for performance. From 2004-2007, she served as the Technical Director for the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s Time-Based Art Festival. Upon moving to Atlanta in 2008, Rodriguez co-founded Dance Truck, the portable performance venue through which she has presented over 130 artists while cultivating a new, large and loyal audience for contemporary dance. Malina co-directs The Lucky Penny, the non-profit presenting organization that houses Dance Truck and Malina’s other work as a curator and collaborator to choreographer Blake Beckham.  In recognition of her commitment to artists and students and her success in forging artistic collaborations, Emory’s Center for Creativity & Arts awarded Malina their Community Impact Award (2011) and Staff Award (2017).