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Garett Hawe was performing consistently since graduating college from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 2009. But things came to a screeching halt in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the nation and shut down Broadway. That’s when he felt inspired to make a change.
“The pandemic was the first time in about 15 years where I wasn’t doing eight shows a week,” Hawe exclusively tells BroadwayWorld, explaining that the newfound free time had him wondering what the future holds.
“I had a lot of time to sit and think with myself about what else I felt like I could do with my life,” he says. “And it was only after I stopped trying to figure out what was next that I became open to discovering what was next.”
Since graduating college 17 years ago, Hawe found success both on and off Broadway. He made his Main Stem debut in Mary Poppins before originating the roles of Albert and Bill in the hit musical Newsies. He also appeared in the Broadway productions of Matilda the Musical and Carousel as well as TV’s Peter Pan Live! and the 2021 film adaptation of West Side Story.
Hawe had accomplished so many of his goals, but he admits, “I felt this sense of ‘incomplete.’ I was like, ‘I think there’s more to life than just coming to 46th Street eight times a week. And I feel like I have more to offer.’”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawe was inspired by the frontline health workers and thought about exploring the field. “I was getting a treatment done at the med spa [JECT], where I currently work at now,” Hawe explains. “And I just point blank asked my provider, ‘What is your job? You seem to really enjoy what you do.’ And she said, ‘I’m a nurse practitioner.’ That was a lightbulb moment for me.”
Hawe began talking to a friend who went down a similar path and researching his options in the nursing field, but he admits that it “was a big, scary moment for me to go back to college in my late 30s.”
He started with one class at a community college, and things snowballed from there. It was important to Hawe to take things slow to avoid burnout and make sure that nursing was actually a career he wanted to pursue. What Hawe realized was that he loved “constantly learning new things,” he says, adding: “I truly feel like my world is opening up in a way that I never thought it would have.”
The former Broadway actor recently finished a two-year associate degree program and took his board exam to officially become a registered nurse. He’s completing his education online as a returning University of Cincinnati student.
“I just realized that age and time is a construct that we’ve all made up,” says Hawe, now 40. “I certainly have imposter syndrome. This is a completely new field for me. There were so many times throughout this journey where I was like, ‘I’m not sure I can do this.’ Every test I truly thought I was going to fail, and I never did.”
“I just have learned to accept that there’s always going to be doubts and unknowns,” he adds. “And that’s just part of life.”
Hawe announced his latest career news last week on Instagram and was met with a round of applause from his Broadway friends and former colleagues. Up next, he’s moving into a full-time RN position at JECT, a medical aesthetic spa in the West Village.
While performing on Broadway was thrilling, Hawe says, he’s enjoying this next chapter, which comes with stability and flexibility. But performing is not completely in the rearview, it seems.
“Never say never,” he says. “I’m certainly open [to it]. If you had asked me four, five years ago that I would be a registered nurse now, and I would have gone down this road, I would have said, ‘Huh?’ I just wouldn’t have believed it. Life throws crazy curve balls at you.”
But for now, Hawe is “really excited to help people.” It’s a new part of his life and career that “fuels” him, he says. “And it feels really good to feel good at other things besides just performing. I feel like I have a lot to offer that I didn’t realize I had.”
“I just really wanted to stretch my wings,” he says. “And I just knew that there was more I could give back to this world — and there’s more that I’m able to accomplish.”
Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Courtesy of Garett Hawe
