BUXTON – After visiting the home of a long-ago children’s author, a 12-year old girl has landed a role in a holiday romantic comedy that annually ushers in the holiday season in Buxton.

Elyssa Franklin, 12, of Limington will play the ageless role of Sally Bixby in this year’s 149th production of “The Old Peabody Pew ” written by author Kate Douglas Wiggin, who died in 1923. Franklin, who is home-schooled, completed a project about Wiggin and visited Quillcote, the home where Wiggin lived in Hollis.

“She’s one of my favorite authors,” Franklin said this week before a rehearsal.

Wiggin gained fame for her book, “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.” But, Franklin said “The Birds’ Christmas Carol” is her favorite Wiggin book.

At Quillcote, Franklin met Carla Turner, who owns the landmark home and who is also the show’s producer. Franklin learned about the Bixby role, auditioned and won it.

“The Old Peabody Pew” will be presented on Sunday, Dec. 2, in the historic Tory Hill Meeting House, at the intersection of routes 202 and 112 in Buxton. The production follows a tree lighting at 5 p.m. Cider and cookies will be served.

The two-act play is sponsored annually by the Dorcas Society of Hollis and Buxton, a charitable organization founded by Wiggin in 1897.

Wiggin adapted the play from her book with the same name. It was first performed in 1916 in the barn at Quillcote. Wiggin wrote the Sally Bixby role into her play as a gift for her godchild.

Amberlee Edgerton-Moriarty is directing the classic again this year. In the play, Justin Peabody comes home nearly penniless from Detroit, Mich., where he sought a fortune but earned a measly $60 a month. Despite his financial woes, Peabody after 10 years wins the heart of the unmarried Nancy Wentworth, the girlfriend he left behind.

This year, leading roles are again filled by Tim Wilbur as Peabody and Courtney Lamson Wescott as Wentworth. Teivy Manuel, 95, fills the reader’s role that she has owned for three decades.

Besides the Sally Bixby part, another new actress joins the cast this year. Heidi Young of Arundel has the role of Mrs. Sargent. Most of the cast returns from previous years and know their lines by heart. “I’m getting there,” Young said at Sunday’s rehearsal. “I have another week.”

The play’s new actors are receiving support.

“The veterans are taking the newbies under their wings,” Moriarty said.

Members of the cast also include Caroline Vail as Maria Sharp; Jane McCarthy as Mrs. Burbank; Linda Piper as Lobelia Brewster; Jane Charron as Mrs. Miller; Camille Bourgue as Mrs. Baxter; Cindy Buck as widow Buzzell; and Josh Wescott as the sexton, assisted by his 1-year-old son, Aiden.

But even veteran players in the production can experience some butterflies. Bourque has played the role of Mrs. Baxter, the minister’s wife, for 33 performances.

“I still get nervous after all this time, she said.

“Anytime there’s a hitch, the audience doesn’t know,” said Turner, who is costume director and also serves as president of the Dorcas Society.

The play has been much the same, bridging the generations of players and audiences. The performers are decked in period costumes. While members of the cast have changed through the decades, “it has the same flavor,” Bourque said. “It’s pretty awesome.”

For some of the cast, parts have become a family tradition and have been handed down. Vail for 18 years has played Maria Sharp, a role her mother held for 25 years.

This year’s production could launch a tradition in the Franklin family. Bryanna Franklin, 15, serves as her sister’s understudy and a younger sister is ready to step up in the future. And Grace Franklin, 9, is aspiring to be Sally Bixby next year, their mother, Amy Franklin, said.

A real ritual in Buxton, the production historically plays to a near full house.

“We’ve never turned anyone away,” Turner said.

The leading man and lady in the romantic comedy “The Old Peabody Pew” are Tim Wilbur playing Justin Peabody and Courtney Wescott as Nancy Wentworth.