NEW YORK (AP) — Striking stagehands and Broadway producers are going back to the bargaining table, less than a week before the start of the lucrative Thanksgiving holiday weekend, when most plays and musicals experience a box-office bonanza.

Negotiations will resume this weekend "at an undisclosed place and time," the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and the League of American Theatres said late Wednesday.

"No comment from either organisation will be issued until further notice," both sides said in a joint statement.

Was there pressure to return to the talks before Thanksgiving, when New York City is filled with visitors for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the start of the Christmas shopping season?

"It was a factor," said Norman Samnick, an entertainment lawyer who specialises in labor relations for Bryan Cave LLP. "It doesn't surprise me that this is happening. What the end-all will be, I have no idea. But somebody is going to give a little; somebody is going to take a little."

The announcement "is a very important step forward," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who reiterated his willingness "to help resolve these disagreements and let the shows go on."

The stagehands walked off the job on Saturday, shutting down 27 Broadway plays and musicals.

All week, the mood along Broadway has been one of resignation and gloom — with stagehands picketing in front of padlocked theaters, actors unable to perform, and press agents, whose union supports the stagehands, told not to promote their struck shows.

On Thursday, cast members and the producers of "The Seafarer," Conor McPherson's Irish drama, will have dinner together at an undisclosed restaurant. It was to have been the show's opening night.