Raegan Young plays Nancy Wentworth with Zavier Walker as Justin Peabody.

Carolyn Vail plays Maria Sharp in this year’s dressed-down version of the holiday classic, “The Old Peabody Pew,” at 4:15 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2,  at Tory Hill Meeting House, intersection routes 202 and 112, Buxton. Gone this year are the vintage costumes worn since the play’s inception in 1916. “Why is this happening on my watch,” Vail joked before dress rehearsal Sunday.

Jane McCarthy, left, is Widow Buzzell and the Rev. Allison Curry is Mrs. Baxter in this year’s production of “The Old Peabody Pew.” “I’m a cougar,” McCarthy said of her protrayal of Buzzell in the modernized version of the show.

Members of the “The Old Peabody Pew” cast are prepared for the casual, modernized version of the show.

BUXTON — The annual performance of “The Old Peabody Pew,” first staged in 1916, will have a modern twist this year, leaving behind its Victorian costumes and portraying the Widow Buzzell as a man-hunting “cougar.”

The Dorcas Society of Hollis and Buxton, a charitable group founded by legendary children’s author Kate Douglas Wiggin in 1897, every year produces the two-act show that Wiggin also wrote.

Attendence has dwindled over the years, however, and the group hopes there will be a better turnout with the freshened-up script.

“People don’t relate to the old version,” said the Rev. Allison Curry, pastor at the historic church and a member of the cast.

Carla Turner, past society president, admitted she was at first skeptical about modernizing the play, but she said this week the script is much the same as the original.

“In many ways, its funnier,” said Turner, a former costume director.

It’s stage lights up for the play at 4:15 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 2, at the Tory Hill Meeting House, intersection of routes 202 and 112, Buxton, following a tree lighting and refreshments at 4 p.m.

Tickets are $5 and $2.50 for children.

In the play, co-directed by Ashleigh Morgan and Karla Fossett, women in a church sewing circle gossip about Nancy Wentworth and Justin Peabody. Raegan Young, a graduate student at the University of Southern Maine Muskie School, plays Wentworth and Zavier Walker, a junior and drama student at Bonny Eagle High School, is Justin Peabody. He returns home to woo Wentworth, who he left behind in a failed attempt at seeking his fortune.

The Widow Buzzell, played by Jane McCarthy, voices her opinion of Peabody. “He was as good as dead when he was 21, but his mother was too soft-hearted to bury him,” Buzzell says.

And Buzzell herself is hunting for another mate. “I’m a cougar,” McCarthy joked before rehearsal Sunday.

“Jane is hysterical,” Turner said.

Other cast members include Danielle Napolitano as Ms. Sargeant; Jennie Palermo as Mrs. Miller; Curry as Mrs. Baxter; Carolyn Vail as Maria Sharp; 11-year old Nikki Sanborn as Sally Bixby; Morgan as Lobelia; and Fossett as Mrs. Burbank.

This marks the 26th year Vail has played Sharp. In the dress rehearsal, Vail wore a turtleneck, vest and jeans and commented on the shift from a Victorian outfit. “Why is this happening on my watch,” Vail laughed.

Robert Lowell can be reached at 854-2577 or email rlowell@keepmecurrent.com.