Imagine a place so far north of us, it’s almost not in the United States; in fact, it’s almost in Canada. It’s almost a town, but not quite because its residents never got around to organizing their community. It almost doesn’t exist.

Welcome to Almost, Maine, a town you can almost visit from wherever you are, brought to you by the Community Players of Salisbury, in a format that’s almost live theater – but not quite. It’s not Shakespeare’s "Midsummer Night’s Dream," but it’s almost the opposite – a delightful story of a midwinter night’s dream, performed in nine vignettes set in Almost, Maine.

“It has elements of maybe magic, or things that take you ‘home,’ or make you go ‘hmm’,” said Sharon Benchoff, Players’ president and producer of the current production. The nine separate scenes constitute a major reason Players chose this production at this time, because each scene has only two actors.

“That way we could stagger rehearsal nights so we would only hve four people there at a time for each rehearsal,” said Benchoff. “Two actors, a director and when we were ready to film, a videographer.”

There were challenges, for sure. Instead of a few sets, there were nine – smaller than a typical set for sure. But it was a challenge the crew enjoyed, said Benchoff. Each scene required a different set – a front porch, a basement laundry room in a boarding house, a local hangout called the Moose Paddy.

The production was filmed inside the Players on Nutters Cross Road space. It was almost like making a movie.

“We filmed with the intention of providing almost a live theater experience for our audience,” Benchoff said. “But we didn’t film in the order the scenes will appear in the final production.”

The filming was done by SU Communications major Skylar Vann of Delmar. Musical accompaniment was provided by the Cockey family, who perform as a group. Robin Cockey, probably best known as a member of Folk Heroes, along with his wife and children, perform as Folk Villains.

“Almost Maine” has two directors, Matt Hatfield and Ken Johnson, who have split up the nine standalone scenes, which are performed by different actors.

“This is the first time we have filmed or streamed a performance,” Benchoff said. It was almost like acting in front of a live audience, but there were a few differences – for example, it was possible to do-over mistakes.

But on the other hand, there were some very real obstacles the actors had to overcome.

“We told the actors to remember not to look at the camera,” said Benchoff. “They needed to perform as if they were in front of a live audience. But they tended to want to look at the camera because of having done TV interviews. They couldn’t do that this time.”

Each scene was filmed three times, just in case there was some small mistake.

“Normally you don’t have that opportunity in live theater,” Benchoff said.

The actors were not the only people involved who faced some new mistakes to avoid.

“One of my favorite sayings while set-building is ‘It’s OK, it’ll never be seen in Row G,’ but I had to keep reminding myself that everyone watching would be sitting in front of Row A and every little mistake would be seen,” Benchoff said. “But we were able to do some special effects lighting with the Northern Lights, and I think they will show up well.”

Tickets for “Almost Maine” are available for three different dates – Feb. 13, 14 and 20. Ticket sales are almost like any kind of show, except there are no times to worry about, just dates. They can be purchased only online, by visiting sbyplayers.com. The cost is $15 per individual or $20 per family or household.

Once you have your tickets, they are good for anytime during the 24-hour period on the ticket date.

The show is about two hours in length, and there is no limit whatsoever on the number of tickets sold for any of the dates, and there is no geographic limitation on the audience.

“We’ve had people who moved away from the area, even across the country to places like Los Angeles or Denver,” said Benchoff, “and they will be able to join us in enjoying the performance.”

As for last summer’s “Weekends on the Lawn” performances, “we want to do that again this summer,” said Benchoff, “because people really enjoyed that, too.”