MACHIAS – “Colonial House,” the public television production made in Machiasport two years ago, is being used to kick-start a monthlong discussion about what it means to live and work Down East.

“Colonial House: Revisited” is the opening presentation of the University of Maine at Machias’ 2005-06 Libra Series, which involve several discussions throughout the school year. Titled, “Chance, Choice, Change: The Significance of Community,” the Libra series will explore what community means in Down East Maine.

Very quietly in the summer of 2003, 26 individuals “from away” tried to re-create the community of the first European colonists in New England.

The result was the Public Broadcasting System series about the struggles of life on the Maine coast in 1628. It aired in eight segments starting in May 2004.

Now UMM is bringing back the shows for the next three Thursday evenings (Sept. 8, 15 and 22). A final discussion takes place on Thursday, Sept. 29, involving four of the show’s cast members.

All “Revisited” presentations will take place from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in UMM’s Kimball Hall.

The return of the reality show is thanks to the diligence of Lisa Athearn, a new, part-time UMM faculty member who specializes in media and documentary films. She did the groundwork that resulted in Libra Foundation’s financial support for the project.

“The first goal of ‘Colonial House’ was to build a community,” Athearn said. “The people were put in a contrived situation, and issues arose in class, culture, race, gender.

“There were economic issues, too, like trying to make a living out of the very wild setting of Down East Maine. That hasn’t changed in the nearly 400 years since.”

Athearn had worked previously with “Colonial House” cast member Jonathon Allen. While teaching at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Athearn and Allen had co-produced a reality show for a campus-based cable network about college students exiled on a remote South Carolina island – who competed for a college scholarship.

Athearn asked Allen if he wanted to return to Machias and discuss what he learned during the rural ordeal. The idea to bring other cast members grew from there.

The Colonial House setting came and went as quietly as the top-secret production did. The fabricated village was sited on private land with the condition that it be removed after filming ended.

It was moved to Plimouth Plantation in Massachusetts, a living history museum that had arranged for the show to be filmed Down East.

Janet Toth of Jonesboro, a business development specialist with the Eastern Maine Development Corp., helped coordinate production logistics during the summer and fall of 2003.

She will be present a talk in the evening Sept. 8 about how Machiasport managed to land the project. She will return on Sept. 29 to talk about the show’s impact on the area, and how additional potential economic development and impact can be derived from the experience.

Making the return trip to Machias alongside Allen will be cast members John Voorhees, Michelle Rossi-Voorhees and Jeff Lin.

On the “Colonial House” series, the Voorhees portrayed a young couple from a rural village in Worcestershire, England. The story line had them moving to Bristol and then deciding to take their chances in the “New World.” Voorhees was a soldier turned laborer. His wife was a seamstress.

Allen portrayed a former Oxford student who indentured himself to the parish minister in return for payment of his passage and the prospect of land at the end of his service.

Lin, who joined the rest of the “colonists” halfway through the project, also portrayed an indentured servant. He was indentured to the Colonial House Co. – and answered to the colony’s governor while living with the Voorhees.

The program to review and rediscover “Colonial House” isn’t limited to Machias. It will also be presented in Calais on the Fridays and Tuesdays after the Thursday presentations at UMM. Those times and places in Calais are:

. At the Downeast Heritage Museum from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 9, 16, 23 and 30. (“continuous loop”)

. At the University of Maine System’s Unobskey School, from 4 to 10 p.m. Sept. 13, 20 and 27.

The “Colonial House” cast reunion and discussion in Calais will take place at the Downeast Heritage Museum from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30.

All of the events in the “Colonial House: Revisited” program are free and open to the public.