FINAL ANALYSIS and BREAKFAST WITH MUGABE Begin Tonight at Signature Center

In the acclaimed new play Final Analysis by playwright Otho Eskin and the gripping Fraser Grace drama, Breakfast With Mugabe, the question of madness, power and corruption of intent is explored. Though each play is set in distinctly different time periods, they are connected by a recurring theme that begs the question - "is man inherently evil and doomed to repeat mistakes?"

Final Analysis and Breakfast with Mugabe will open in repertory at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center in August and will have a limited run engagement through the first week of October.

Both plays focus on important historical periods and on individuals that have helped to shape 20th century history. Sadly, they also make it painfully clear we have not moved away from conflicts.

Final Analysis, was part of the 2012 Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival and was honored with 7 MITF Awards, receiving an unprecedented 13 nominations. The play, directed by Ludovica Villar- Hauser, is set in turn-of-the- century Vienna - the crossroads of civilization - a major confluence of art, music, science and politics. But, festering beneath the façade of frivolity and joy, the city is rotting at its core, sickened by moral corruption, obsessed with death, and ravaged by a growing hatred of the Jews. Against this background - Gustav Mahler, the great composer and conductor, falls in love with the talented, tempestuous Alma Schindler; Joseph Stalin meets a dangerous young man over a game of chess; Ludwig Wittgenstein, destined to become a dominant force in world philosophy, runs into an old schoolmate with unpleasant consequences, and in the midst of this, Sigmund Freud faces what he has always denied - the essential - evil nature of man. Final Analysis is a powerful reminder of a past that continues to follow us.

Breakfast With Mugabe, Fraser Grace's thriller, was originally produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon in 2005 and won the highly prestigious John Whiting Award in 2006.

Inspired by accounts that Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, severely depressed, sought treatment from a white psychiatrist, it is a suspenseful, suddenly violent play that highlights issues of our time: the tension between modern ideas and ancient beliefs, the question of whether those who were colonized can live with their former subjugators, and how a man who was oppressed becomes an oppressor. As we watch citizens of countries around the world struggle under dictatorships, this play resonates strongly. Directed by David Shookhoff, it stars Ezra Barnes (Andrew Peric), Michael Rogers (Robert Mugabe), Rosalyn Coleman (Grace Mugabe) and Che Ayende (Gabriel).

Producers of Final Analysis and Breakfast With Mugabe are utilizing the innovative crowd-funding platform, Kickstarter, to help defray production expenses. See http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1318667716/help-move-final-analysis-to-pershing-square-signat and http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1061781892/breakfast-with-mugabe-new-york-premiere-of-acclaim-0.

The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at the The Pershing Square Signature Center is located at 480 West 42nd Street, New York, NY.

Performance Schedule:

Breakfast With Mugabe

Previews begin tonight, August 7th
Opens, Saturday, August 17th
Closes, October 6th
Run Time: 90 min. (no intermission)

Final Analysis

Previews begin Thursday, August 8th Opens, Sunday, August 18
Closes, October 5
Run Time: 90 minutes (no intermission)

Tickets for both productions can be purchased through Ticket Central via www.ticketcentral.com, by calling 212-279-4200, or in person at 416 W. 42nd Street (12-8pm daily). Group sales (10+) for Final Analysis and for Breakfast With Mugabe can be booked by calling Carol Ostrow, 212-265-8500 or email: ostrow1776@aol.com.

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