Great Barrington — Homeownership is, for many, a major part of the American Dream. For Broadway star Robert Hartwell, his dream of homeownership became a reality in Great Barrington. Hartwell has performed on Broadway in several musicals and in two national tours, including the musicals “Dreamgirls,” “Memphis,” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It.
” He founded the educational project The Broadway Collective in 2016 and has also worked as a director and choreographer for performances at the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the North Carolina Theatre. However, he has never owned a house before, and his trials and tribulations in fixing up a 200-plus-year-old home are the subjects of the new MAX series “Breaking New Ground.” In June 2020, Hartwell purchased the colonial-style mansion on Payton Avenue.
“This is a renovation story 200 years in the making,” Hartwell said in the trailer for the series. “When I bought this house, it struck a nerve because here was a gay Black man owning a plantation-style home, saying that we can include ourselves where they have worked so hard to exclude us.” Hartwell points out that the house was built in 1820 when slavery was still legal in many states in America.
While the Commonwealth moved to abolish slavery in 1783, the Emancipation Proclamation was not issued until 1865, and the last enslaved people in Texas did not learn they were free until June 19, 1865, a date celebrated as Juneteenth. “There are rooms in th.
