Meet the Students

Eli began acting as a second-grader, and hasn't stopped. At the Essex Art Center, in Lawrence, Mass., he stared in Moliere's comedy The Mock Doctor at age 12, and he played Fagen in Oliver at the Merrimack Junior Theater as a 14-year old. Grober has found that Andover's theater department has more than fulfilled his dreams. “My immersion in theater has helped me develop as an actor and director and, in my academic studies, has given me a different way of looking at the world,” he says.

Even with his extensive theater résumé and his involvement in cross country running, Grober succeeded, at the same time, to be on the honor roll. Maybe it's because, as he says, “Theater has taught me dedication and given me a strong work ethic, necessary in other areas of my life.”

A participant in numerous student-directed-produced and -acted Drama Lab productions, he has also been an integral part of several mainstage Theater 520 productions, which, he says, are a lot of work, but “are always beneficial to me as an actor.”

In 2008-09, Eli will be one of three student producers of mainstage productions and will co-lead the Drama Lab.