A year ago today, "Spring Awakening" opened to rave reviews on Broadway, and Jonathan Groff's life hasn't been the same since.

"I know I will never experience anything ever like this again in my life," says the 2003 Conestoga Valley High School graduate, who learned his craft on the stages of the Ephrata Performing Arts Center and the Fulton.

"Literally, every dream I ever had in high school has come true. What do you do when every dream comes true and you're only 22?"

For Groff, it means you keep growing and developing as an actor, and you look beyond the show that made you a star to what comes next, which he hopes will include a new TV series.

"It's kind of like, OK, I had this gift at the beginning of my career, this incredible experience, and now I can develop as a performer, hone my talent, grow as an artist and take chances," he says.

"Spring Awakening," which Groff has been involved with since its off-Broadway beginnings more than a year-and-a-half ago, has certainly been an extraordinary experience for the Ronks native.

He was nominated for a Tony for best actor and saw the show, about a group of teens living in repressed 19th century Germany, win eight Tonys, including best musical, this past June.

The show has made him a star in the Broadway community.

Groff performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (he and co-star Lea Michele sang "Give My Regards to Broadway"), which thrilled him.

"The parade was one of the most incredible things I've done," he says. "I used to tape it and watch the choreography of the Broadway shows. The Macy's Thanksgiving parade was always a huge deal for me."

He and the entire cast of "Spring Awakening" are now appearing on a huge billboard in Times Square, wearing colorful scarves and mittens for a GAP ad.

"It's so big," Groff says, laughing. "Lea and I went by in a taxi, and we freaked out when we saw it."

Groff has renewed his contract for the show through May, as has just about everyone in the cast. But he's also looking ahead to a post-"Spring Awakening" world.

Last month, Groff was in Los Angeles filming a pilot, "Pretty Handsome," about a wealthy family in Connecticut with plenty of secrets.

Created by the team that produces "Nip/Tuck," the show is being made for the cable channel FX, and Groff will find out in February whether it's being picked up for next season.

If it is, filming probably will start in May, though Groff notes the writer's strike could change the schedule.

The show stars Joseph Fiennes (he was Shakespeare in "Shakespeare in Love,") and Carrie-Anne Moss, of "Matrix" fame, as Groff's parents. Blythe Danner and Robert Wagner play his grandparents.

Groff's character, Patrick, has gotten his girlfriend pregnant, and they're keeping it a secret.

"I'm this spoiled high school senior, but I really love my girlfriend, and I want to do the responsible thing," Groff says. "We gave birth in the pilot, which was really intense, but I don't know what's going to happen next."

Patrick's father has planned out his son's life. He'll go to Yale and become a doctor, just like he and his own father did.

"Patrick and his dad have a really complicated relationship," Groff says.

What will bring "Pretty Handsome" plenty of buzz, if it's picked up, is that the Fiennes character is a transsexual who's deciding whether or not to have sex-reassignment surgery.

"I feel like this is the perfect time for this to be explored in the TV world," Groff says. "He's fascinated with the idea of becoming a woman, and in this wealthy, conservative world he lives in, it's unheard of to have that kind of thing done. He has to come to terms with his own desires."

Filming the pilot was "a perfect experience," Groff says.

"I was working on a project I really believe in with actors I really admire and respect," he says. "I watched them work and I studied them, I got to talk with them and hang out with them. I got to observe the masters doing their work. And I was also working with actors my own age, too, which was great."

Groff was in Los Angeles for about three weeks (from Oct. 27 to Nov. 17), taking a leave of absence from "Spring Awakening."

"Our producers have been really nice about letting us do that," he says. "They recognize that it's good for us to get another job, clear our heads and come back with a fresh attitude and perspective."

Groff got the chance to audition for the pilot after the producers saw his performance in "Spring Awakening."

When he got back to New York several weeks ago, the stagehands' strike had closed much of Broadway, and Groff ended up not performing there for a total of five weeks.

"It's great to be back," he says. "You're doing something you feel confident doing, something you know like the back of your hand, yet you feel like you're doing it for the first time."

After its huge Tony win, the show has become the hottest ticket in town, Groff says.

"The first show after the Tonys was so incredible. We couldn't start the show because the applause went on for so long. It was like a rock concert."

Groff says the crowds outside the stage door who wait for autographs and the chance to talk to the cast are huge and intense.

But as great as all the adulation has been, Groff says there's something much more important.

"As far as the show goes, it's like nothing has ever changed," he says. "Everyone is still grounded, we enjoy coming to work. None of us are feeling like we're too cool for school."

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