Artistic Director Paula Suozzi and Managing Director Carrie Van Hallgren announced today they are closing their Milwaukee Shakespeare theater company due to lack of available funding.

Milwaukee Shakespeare, which has operated locally for nine seasons, recently stopped receiving funding from the Argosy Foundation, a private family foundation founded in 1997 by John Abele. The Argosy Foundation was its primary source of operating funds.

Although the theater company received support from granting organizations such as UPAF and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as private foundations, Suozzi and Van Hallgren say it's not enough.

A press release about the closing states, "Milwaukee Shakespeare has been actively seeking and achieving outside support, but the growth has not been sufficient to withstand this loss in its primary source of funding."

Milwaukee Shakespeare closed a production of "Love's Labour's Lost" Oct. 5. Runs of "Henry V" and "Othello" were scheduled for early 2009, but the season will not continue as planned.