A new effort to end a damaging week-old strike of New York theater workers collapsed late Sunday after the strikers and theater owners failed to resolve their dispute in two days of talks, owners announced. Negotiators representing the two sides met here Saturday and Sunday. "We are profoundly disappointed to have to tell you that talks broke off tonight, and that no further negotiations are scheduled," Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of the League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc., said in a statement. She said the union representing theater stagehands rejected compromise proposals offered by the league and "continues to require us to hire more people than we need." "Out of respect for our public and our loyal theatergoers, many of whom are traveling from around the world, we regret that we must cancel performances through Sunday November 25," St. Martin said. Bruce Cohen, a spokesman for Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, is quoted by The New York Times as saying that "producers informed Local 1 that what Local One offered was not good enough, and they left." The strike, which started on November 10 without notice, brought the curtain down at 27 Broadway theaters, with disappointed ticket holders arriving at theaters to find the doors closed and picket lines set up outside. However, for shows such as hit musical "Mary Poppins," which are not run by members of the league and therefore not hit be the strike, the stoppage was helping ensure sell-out shows. Off-Broadway productions were also reportedly experiencing a mini-boom thanks to the strike, with many visitors from across the United States and around the world still anxious to see some New York theater during their visit. Tickets to some of the top Broadway shows can command prices of more than 500 dollars, and last year 1.3 million tickets were sold to foreign tourists. And despite ticket prices increasing sharply in recent years, the number of theatergoers has continued to mount, jumping 2.6 percent from 2006 to 2007, while box office receipts have increased 8.9 percent over the same period. According to the producers` league, Broadway pumps five billion dollars into the New York economy a year and provides the equivalent of 45,000 jobs. The industrial action is the third stoppage on Broadway in 30 years. The last, a strike by musicians in 2003, lasted four days at an estimated cost to theater producers of several million dollars. The producers` league is reported to have set aside 20 million dollars in an emergency fund in anticipation of the strike, while the union was said to have a contingency fund of four million dollars of its own. According to the league, the average stagehand makes 150,000 dollars a year in pay and benefits, which the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees says is exaggerated.