Ten reasons why the 31st year of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, arriving this weekend, may be its most eye-and-ear-opening to date:

1. Putting the 'fest' back in 'festival'

For the first time since the Illinois Shakespeare Festival began 31 summers ago, the regime at the top is starting from scratch in their roles.

They include: John Poole, festival manager; Debbie Alley, a festival veteran in her first term as full-time artistic director; and Chris Peak, the fest's first-ever full-time marketing director.

In unison, this new guard says it hopes the beginning of the fourth decade will mark the dawn of a new era - one aimed to revitalize an event that may have begun to level off in recent years.

All agree the quality onstage has remained steadfast, but they suggest the communal excitement surrounding the festival has dimmed. The hoopla over the fest's dazzling new theater - which drew even international attention - was eight summers ago, after all.

Meanwhile, let's face it: The audience entering the theater has evolved over three decades.

So: "We decided it was time for the festival to reinvent itself - to be more contemporary, more popular, more appealing to a younger demographic," says Poole.

Investigating the country's most successful summer Shakespeare festivals (including the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, Utah, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Ore.), Poole & Co. found Bloomington's event "more than holds its own against them, and is even better than several of them."

But there were areas outside the stage that needed re-thinking, he says, such as the pre-show and off-day activities.

"What I'm really trying to focus on," says Peak, "is the fact that this is called a festival and it IS a festival, and one that is a really fun, enjoyable time. It's really bringing it back to what Shakespeare was all about originally - someone for the people."

2. New music to our ears

Under the heading of what Peak has christened "Shakespeariences" are two new regular music series:

• The Glenn Wilson & Friends Jazz Series will bring the veteran Twin Cities saxophonist to the Ewing Manor grounds from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. every Friday and Saturday, beginning this weekend and continuing through Aug. 9.

The free performances will feature Wilson (who has collaborated with the likes of Tito Puente and Bruce Hornsby), his band The Jazzmaniacs and assorted jazz cronies from around the country as they pass through the area.

• Dennis Florine, an acoustic folk-rock singer-guitarist, will perform free shows combing his musical influences (Dave Matthews, Tom Petty, the Beatles) with Shakespearean poetry at 6 p.m. July 1, 2, 3, 20, 22, 23 and 24, and 5 p.m. July 21.

If these series are hits, further musical endeavors could be forthcoming in years ahead, maybe along the lines of "a more Ravinia-like atmosphere," a reference to the popular Ravinia Festival, an outdoor summer series in Chicago's Highland Park.

3. Fresh hues for the Green Show

The popular pre-show event, a long-standing festival tradition, has been made over this year, according to Poole.

For starters, the old Green Show stage, which has serviced the fest since the beginning, finally rotted to dust last year and has been replaced.

Also, says Poole, the shows will beef up one of their most popular features - rowdy demonstrations of fight choreography, with swords in hand and tongues in cheek.

Over time, "we felt like the shows had gotten to be like the worst of TV on our stage - entertaining, but not art," adds Alley.

The new Green Shows, everyone promises, will put their aesthetic value as a family-friendly festival component back in the pink.

4. Teach the children

A mission of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival has always been educational outreach. But now, say Poole and Alley, that mission will be ramped up, with schools and young people the targets. Immediate evidence of that:

• "Shakespeare Alive!," a performance aimed squarely at kids and the young at heart, will present a specially condensed 45-minute version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Performance times are equally kid-friendly: at 10 a.m. July 12 (sold out), 23 and 26. Admission is free, but tickets must be reserved by calling (309) 438-8974.

• "The Viola Project: Shakespeare for Girls," a project for girls ages 8 to 18, who meet for a day and create, rehearse and perform a 10-minute version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in ISU's Center for the Performing Arts. The first session, held earlier this week, was such a hit that a second date has been added, for July 21. Cost is $55 for enrollment, with limited openings remaining. Call (309) 438-2535.

5. It's about time

Also new this season are several readjustments in the festival's time management.

For starters, there are now two evening curtain times instead of the uniform one of past festivals. Curtain times on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday are 7:30 p.m., all the better to accommodate those working stiffs in the audience. Friday and Saturday curtains are 8 p.m.

Also now a part of festival policy, says Poole, is a gentle mandate to keep shows at a two-hour-or-less length.

"One night last year I got home from a play and 'The David Letterman Show' was off the air," he recalls. "That's wrong."

As for plays that run to three hours or longer, "I'm pretty sure if Shakespeare were standing there in the theater, he'd be saying, 'Geez, c'mon guys, let's get going!'"

For this season, the trims are minimal: "The Taming of the Shrew" clocks in at around two hours already, while the chronically quick "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)" is a mere 97 minutes long on its slowest night. Only newcomer "Titus Andronicus" will be tightened, losing around a half hour of its admittedly overstocked melodrama.

6. Grounds for approval

Competing with the festival's Green Show is nature's green show, and it's a doozy this year, thanks to Ewing Manor grounds' new landscaping and renovated gardens - specifically, the Genevieve Green Gardens, a collaborative project involving the ISU Foundation and the Fell Arboretum.

Named in honor of Genevieve Carlock Green, who died in 1995, the garden was bequeathed $5.9 million by her husband, Bruce V. Green, as a memorial.

"Last year, there was a big mud hole out there," notes Poole of the garden before it was completed. "This year, there are 11,000 new annuals, and everything will be bright and colorful."

7. Madrigal makeover

The ISU Madrigal Singers, a long-running component of the festival's pre-show offerings, will diversify this year.

According to Poole, "They've been freshened up, too. They'll still be doing their thing, but not every night. On Fridays and Saturdays we've sort of given them new songs to sing, more percussive, with an interactive guitar player."

8. First time's the best

As has been noted since the festival lineup was announced months ago, the 31st year will see the first-ever festival production of "Titus Andronicus," the wild-and-wooly revenge melodrama that lost favor in the uptight Victorian era over its extreme violence and became criticized as one of the Bard's worst plays.

Beginning back in the 1950s, the rehabilitation of "Titus" began, says Alley, picking up steam half a decade ago with Juliet Taymor's no-holds-barred film version with Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange.

"It's a really good play that has gotten such a bad rap," she says. "When I saw the movie, I thought, oh my gosh, what beautiful language about the human condition and its compulsion for revenge when we feel like we've been wronged."

Adds Poole: "I think Shakespeare plays come and go with the times, and some are more aptly suited to the world we live in. 'Titus' is, and it is now considered one of his finer plays."

9. 2's company, 3's a fest

Though the festival has experimented with non-Shakespeare plays in the past, this year's inclusion of the madcap "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)," marks what is expected to be a permanent return to that philosophy, says Poole.

"Things were getting thin and tired - a feeling of been there, done that," he says. "So we decided that we had to break that up, and our new mission every year will be open up the third show to a non-Shakespeare production."

Future candidates being bandied about include, he says, everything from "Amadeus" to Cole Porter's musical, "Kiss Me Kate."

10. The rest of the stories

Also worth noting are these matters, both new and familiar:

• After a year's hiatus due to scheduling difficulties, the popular comedy duo of MooNIE and Broon will return July 21 for a family-friendly show at 6 p.m. and one for elders at 8 p.m. for more mature types. Tickets are $6 and $10 for the first show, and $15 for the second.

• Backstage theater tours will be given from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. every Saturday during the festival's run, Cost is $5.

• Post-play discussions with cast and crew will follow performances on July 23 and 29, and Aug. 5.

• The opening gala for Shakespeare Society members is Friday, the annual WGLT Night is Aug. 3, and the annual ISU Alumni Night is July 12.

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The plays

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)

• Dates: Tonight (preview), Saturday, Sunday; July 3, 6, 11, 13, 19, 23, 26, 30; Aug. 1, 7, 10

• Director: Bill Jenkins, chair of Ball State University Dept. of Theatre & Dance, Muncie, Ind.

• Comedy tonight?: A midsummer night's scream

• The rub: Three guys and no gals time-crunch 37 Shakespeare plays into 97 minutes flat (including "Taming of the Shrew" and "Titus Andronicus," see below, in case your summer schedule is over-booked)

• You can quote them: "Beware the Ides of March." "What the hell are the Ides of March?"

The Taming of the Shrew

• Dates: Friday, Tuesday, Wednesday; July 5, 10, 12, 20, 22, 25, 31; Aug. 3, 5, 9

• Director: Catherine Weidner, program director of Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington D.C.

• Comedy tonight?: Padua gone wild - 'nuf said.

• The rub: A mirthful triumph of Will's Kate, or should we say, Kate's will?

• You can quote them: She, "Asses are made to bear, and so are you"; He, "Women are made to bear, and so are you."

Titus Andronicus

• Dates: July 17 (preview), 18, 24, 27, 29; Aug. 2, 6, 8

• Director: Catherine Weidner, see above

• Comedy tonight?: Only if rape, torture, murder, tongue removal, decapitation and cannibalism makes you chuckle

• The rub: Ya know, maybe it wasn't such a great idea to take that Goth queen and her sons prisoner after all.

• You can quote them: "Why, there they are, both baked in this pie, whereof their mother daintily hath fed, eating the flesh that she herself hath bred."

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At a glance

What: 31st Illinois Shakespeare Festival

When: June 26 through Aug. 10 (7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday; 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; grounds open 5 p.m.)

Where: The Theatre at Ewing on grounds of Ewing Manor, Towanda Avenue and Emerson Street, Bloomington

Tickets: Adults, $20 to $40; students and seniors, $16 to $36; preview performances, $14 to $30

Box office numbers: (309) 438-2535 or (866) IL-SHAKE (457-4253), 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday; (309) 828-9814, after 5 p.m. performance nights

Weather cancellation info: WGLT-FM, before 5 p.m. performance nights; (309) 828-9814, after 5 p.m.

Web site: www.thefestival.org