BLOOMINGTON - 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.

And the audience entering the theater has evolved over three decades.

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

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," Peak said, "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."

The 31st year will see the first-ever festival production of "Titus Andronicus," the 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."

WHAT: Illinois Shakespeare Festival

WHEN: Today through Aug. 10 ("The Taming of the Shrew today through Aug. 10; "Titus Andronicus" July 18 to Aug. 8; "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)" June 28 to Aug. 9

WHERE: Ewing Manor, 48 Sunset Road, Bloomington

TICKETS: $40 to $16; TicketMaster outlets, or call (309) 438-2535

ON THE WEB: www.thefestival.org. www.thefestival.org.

Dan Craft can be reached at dcraft@pantagraph.com.