Actor Tara Rosling’s one-woman performance of “The Mistletoe Bride” is back in Niagara-on-the-Lake this holiday season at the Silversmith Brewing Co. on Dec. 14 at 6 p.m.

The story, originally written by English author Jeanette Winterson, is “a ghost story, a solstice story, a Christmas story (and) a rite of passage story,” Rosling said.

The show has run every Christmas season since 2014, except in 2020 during the COVID-19 shutdown.

Proceeds from the show will go to Gillian’s Place, a Niagara-based charity that supports and shelters women and children fleeing domestic violence.

Rosling said the choice of charity aligns with the story, which includes an incident of sexual assault that is “poetically described” and involves “a woman who liberates herself from that scenario.”

“There’s an essence of Me Too in it,” she said.

When she and Peter Hinton, the director who did the first show with Rosling, were looking for a charitable organization to donate the funds to, it seemed like “the perfect fit,” she said.

Rosling first encountered the story through Hinton and “loved” it. They began rehearsing and asked Silversmith to host the show.

Its first year drew “way more people than we expected,” she said, prompting them to add a second performance that night.

What they thought would be a one-time event has become “tremendously satisfying.”

“I never anticipated it would become a local tradition,” she said. “Silversmith beautifully supports the story.”

Tickets are $100, with $80 going to Gillian’s Place. The evening includes a three-course meal and a pint of beer.

daniel@niagaranow.com