Proposals (play)

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This article is about a play. For singular uses of the word, see the disambiguation page Proposal.

Proposals is a play by Neil Simon.

A nostalgic memory play, Proposals recalls one idyllic afternoon in the summer of 1953, the last time the Hines clan gathers at its retreat in the Poconos. Clemma, the family's housekeeper (and the story's narrator), dreads a visit from the husband who deserted her years before. Burt Hines, a recovering workaholic convalescing from a second heart attack, looks forward to the arrival of the ex-wife he still loves. Burt's daughter Josie has just broken her engagement to an intense Harvard law student, and she yearns for his buddy Ray, an aspiring writer with whom she had a brief affair. Ray shows up with a striking but dim-witted model on his arm, and a young Miami gangster with a gift for malapropisms adds a note of hilarity to the gathering.

Proposals had its world premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, followed by a run at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. After ten previews, the Broadway production, directed by Joe Mantello, opened on November 6, 1997 at the Broadhurst Theatre, where it ran for only 77 performances, proving to be one of Simon's least successful plays. The cast included Kelly Bishop, Katie Finneran, and Dick Latessa.