GUILDERLAND — Although the words and wit of Neil Simon have often graced the Guilderland High School stage, his story of a fractured family trying to heal at their summer home in the Poconos has never been heard — until now.

“I like Neil Simon,” says Andy Maycock, the longtime Guilderland English teacher who directs the Guilderland Players.

Over the years, his Players have done some of the classics like “The Odd Couple” and “Brighton Beach Memoirs.”

Last summer, Maycock stumbled upon a Simon play he’d never come across before — “Proposals.”

“It’s a really nice balance of drama and comedy,” he said.

This weekend, a cast that Maycock describes as talented and mature beyond their years will bring “Proposals” to life on the high school stage.

The play is set in a summer home in the Poconos in 1953. “The set is beautiful,” Maycock said, describing a house with a porch and screen door and “actual wood siding.” The crew that built it was overseen by student stage manager Lucas Laing; the painting crew was led by Brad McCrary.

The set is peopled with a troubled family. The daughter, Josie, in her 20s, has broken off her engagement. Her father, Burt, has suffered a heart attack.

“He sees his mortality creeping up on him and he wants to reconcile with his ex-wife,” said Maycock.

The family’s housekeeper, Clemma, has been deserted by her husband.

“At the start, there are fractured pieces,” said Maycock. It’s the last week of the family’s summer in the Poconos, and their chance to heal.

“This is a weird play,” Maycock went on. “At the start of rehearsals, actors would ask, ‘How does this make sense?’ I’ve read reviews that said ‘Proposals’ is not Neil Simons at his best.”

But, concluded Maycock, “It’s his most interesting, his most human.”

“Proposals” doesn’t have the obvious contrast of characters as in, say “The Odd Couple” — with sloppy laidback Oscar living with neat exacting Felix — nor does it have the broad humor. Rather “Proposals” offers a more nuanced look at the complexities of the human condition; its drama is laced with humor.

The Enterprise — Michael Koff

^{Spurning embrace, Josie, right, played by Anna Fernandez, keeps her arms stiff as her mother, played by Ashley Visker, hugs her. A central question in Neil Simon’s “Proposals” is: Will Josie forgive her mother for leaving her father?}

“Time heals everything,” says Josie, the 20-year-old daughter, played by Anna Fernandez.

Although Josie speaks those words as her father copes with the bitterness of his wife leaving him for Paris, “She fights that the most,” said Maycock.

He explains, “Josie does not forgive her mother for leaving. That is the gem of the play.” A central question becomes: Will this woman forgive her mother?

“It’s complicated,” said Maycock, “a web of relations.”

Eliana Rowe, a senior, plays the part of the housekeeper, Clemma, who is also the play’s narrator. Clemma speaks from beyond the grave to the 1997 audience that first saw “Proposals” on Broadway.

As a narrator, speaking from a half-century after 1953, Clemma tells the audience her job was to make this family realize how good they had it.

“She’s the shepherd,” Maycock said.

Of the actor who plays Clemma, Maycock said, “Eliana is a force. The audience will think of her as a 57-year old woman from the South when she’s really a sweet, polite kid.”

This week, Maycock wrote an enthusiastic recommendation to the string of colleges Rowe is applying to, to study theater.

She’s played a wide variety of roles on the Guilderland stage from an Italian wife, to a Pacific Island girl, to a British woman.

Maycock said, in real life, “Eliana’s the one sitting quietly in the corner, studying scenes, always taking notes on the script.”

The Enterprise — Michael Koff

Speaking from beyond the grave, Clemma, a housekeeper played by Guilderland High School senior Eliana Rowe, narrates “Proposals,” a Neil Simon play on the high school stage this weekend.

Burt is played by another senior, Winsor Jewell, in his first leading role. “He’s a great kid, very creative,” said Maycock.

In the midst of rehearsal one day, Jewell asked, “Am I playing it too much like Winsor?”

Both the character, Burt, and the actor, Jewell, are affable and easygoing, said Maycock.

But, at the same time, Maycock said of Burt, “He’s got to stand up for his family.”

Another senior, Matt Mortati, plays Ray, the best friend of Josie’s jilted fiancé.

Before this year, Mortati was on the stage crew for Guilderland productions. “He’s a talented artist,” said Maycock.

“He figured out how to act. He’s got great instincts,” said Maycock.

Fernandez, a junior who plays Josie, is “a dancer and a bright kid,” said Maycock. “I’ll take a bright kid any day over someone with training.”

Josie often acts younger than she is as to make her father feel he, too, is younger and will last longer.

“Anna has to go back and forth from being youthful and optimistic to defending herself,” said Maycock.

Speaking of the entire cast, he said, “These actors have tremendous maturity to play varied emotions. The toughest thing to do is to find a balance.”

He described the way they do this as “organic,” making them more akin to a professional acting troupe than to typical high school players.

He explained, “Sometimes, in a high school play, it’s like you can see a student thinking, “I have to be angry’ and then, ‘Now I have to act happy.’ They play the tent poles but not the connective tissue between. The getting there is as important as the destination.”

At the start of rehearsals, Maycock would say, “You got there but I don’t believe how you got there.”

Not any more.

“Proposals,” said Maycock “is appropriate for any audience. There’s no swearing or violence.”

He remembered seeing “Brighton Beach Memoirs” when he was young. The woman he saw the play with related to the mother in the show while he identified with the teenage boy.

Similarly, with this play, there is a range of age in the characters, which theater-goers may relate to. “The more mature you are, the more you’ll identify,” said Maycock.

 “I’m really proud of the kids, being mature actors to master the drama of complicated emotions,” Maycock said.

“The people on stage,” he concluded, “feel like real people.”

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Neil Simon’s “Proposals” runs Nov. 5, 6, and 7 at 5 p.m. on the Guilderland High School Stage, at 8 School Street in Guilderland Center.

Tickets cost $5 at the door. “We haven’t raised the price in 20 years,” said Director Andy Maycock.