Labors of Love Now Lost

Backstage: "In mid-October, a month into the economy's steep decline, the artistic director of Milwaukee Shakespeare attended a statewide theatre conference. While the other directors talked about how their ticket sales had screeched to a halt, Paula Suozzi counted her blessings: Her company's ticket sales had increased by 20 percent from the previous year and Love's Labour's Lost had recently sold out. 'We sold more tickets to Love's Labour's Lost than we have to any other show in that space,' Suozzi said. 'Nothing was happening to our ticket sales except that they were going up.'"