The Broadway stagehands strike may be finally nearing its end as talks are scheduled to resume this morning after a one-day hiatus that was described by a union spokesman as a "rain delay." A round of talks that began Monday night ended without a deal. Monday's talks took place some 12 hours after another 20-hour session that started Sunday morning.

The IATSE's Local One in New York went ahead with their planned strike against the League of American Theatres and Producers as of 10 a.m. Saturday, on Nov. 10. The strike shut down some 27 Broadway theaters, with disappointed ticket holders arriving at theaters to find doors closed and picket lines manned outside.

Today, talks are scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. at the midtown Manhattan law firm where the other two sessions took place. The league's announcement that performances would be canceled only through today's matinees may be an indication that an end may be in sight to the 19-day-old strike that has darkened Broadway theaters.

Bruce Cohen, a spokesman for the union, said the previous night: "We are closer than we were twelve hours ago but not close enough to have a deal." "There's a lot of hard bargaining and good-faith negotiations going on, and we're hoping at some point before the day breaks tomorrow there will be a settlement."

With many shows capable of earning 1 million dollars a day, the League estimates that the strike is costing 17 million dollars a day, not including the economic costs facing area restaurants and other businesses that rely on the theatre-going crowd.

The dispute has shut down 26 theatres, and kept them closed during the normally lucrative Thanksgiving week. Last year, Broadway pulled in around $42 million in grosses over Thanksgiving week and the week before.

The strike is the second in less than five years to shut down Broadway after a four day musicians' strike in 2003. The main point of contention between the sides involves work rules that govern the number of stagehands needed for each show. The previous agreement between the union and theatre owners expired at the end of July. The talks reached an impasse last month.

The current annual salary for stagehands allegedly ranges from $67,500 to $88,500, according to the union, which does not want to disclose what increases it seeks.