Image Credit: ‘Breaking New Ground,’ Max

Performer and entrepreneur Robert Hartwell has spent his life on the stage.

A veteran of Broadway (his credits include Hello, Dolly! & Memphis) and national touring companies (Once On This Island, Motown The Musical), an acclaimed director and choreographer, and founder/artistic director of The Broadway Collective training academy, he’s dedicated his time, talent, and passion to the theater.

But, a few years back, he began a project that saw him laying a new foundation for himself. Literally.

In 2020, Hartwell went viral when he revealed he had bought a plantation-style home in Massachusetts, one that was originally built in 1820, at a time when slavery was still legal. Not only was it a fixer-upper, in need of some serious work, but the house’s fraught history left many confused: Why would a Black queer man like Hartwell want to have anything to do with such a space?

But what he saw was potential—the potential for renovation as a grand act of reclamation. “There are rooms in the home I would not have been able to step into. How beautiful that we actually get to wake up this space! That’s life to me.”

Four years later, Hartwell is sharing that journey with the world on Max’s one-of-a-kind home makeover show, Breaking New Ground, taking on an ambitious renovation project (his first one, mind you!) and learning just how deep his roots go in the process. The result—and apologies for the obvious pun here—is truly groundbreaking television.

In anticipation of the Breaking New Ground finale this coming Thursday, we were delighted to have Hartwell as the latest guest in our rapid-fire Q&A series, Dishin’ It. In our conversation, the multi-hyphenate opens up about his favorite room in his new home, the teacher who changed his life, and ther super-popular gay novel he’d love to see turned into a big Broadway musical.

Is there a piece of media—whether a movie, TV series, book, album, theater, video game, etc…—that has played an important role in your understanding of queerness and the queer community? Why does it stand out to you? 

When I was in middle school I saw Paris Is Burning for the first time. I was deeply moved as a young Black boy in the South by the opulence, resiliency, and celebration of the ballroom scene. They taught me what a grand life could really be.

Breaking New Ground has been years in the making—what’s something you’ve been surprised to learn about yourself through this process of renovation, bringing the series together, and now traveling the country sharing this story with others?  

I didn’t realize how calm I could become. My life for many years has been Broadway and online entrepreneurship which are filled with urgency and the need for your full out self, at all times. The process of renovation and bringing this TV show to life and across the country has expanded my capacity to trust that my calm, kindness, and ease can carry very large things over the line without brute force.

We realize this might be a tough question, but: Do you have a personal favorite room in the house, or one that holds a special significance for you? Why does it stand out?  

My dance studio! It’s dedicated to one of the dearest parts of my heart, Darius Barnes, who I lost during the renovation process. He was one of my first friends that I made when I moved to NYC. We danced together on Broadway and to have this 30 foot white box dance studio with 3 chandeliers dripping from the vaulted ceilings is both ethereal and dazzling. People cry when they walk in the studio for the first time, I know they can feel him as he was just that special.

Image Credit: Instagram, @sirroberttakespics

You’re a seasoned Broadway veteran, have done national tours with shows, have extensive experience directing and choreographing, and are even the founded of The Broadway Collective. In what ways have your experiences in the theater world helped prepare you for a massive home renovation journey like this one? 

You do Broadway because you love it and because there is nothing else you can see your heart doing. You can’t do it for the money, prestige, or stability because they are all so transient. That “I do it because I love it and it’s bigger than me” philosophy is what carried me through Broadway and through this renovation.  

Where’s one of the first spaces you can remember that made you feel a part of a queer community? 

My first dance class in Raleigh, NC with my dance teacher Kirstie Tice Spadie. I was the only little Black boy in the class and at one point in the class she pulled out a sparkly wand and tiara and told us to dream of anything that we wanted to be. I dreamed of being on Broadway. She waved the wand over me and put the tiara on my head. It was a safe and celebratory space for little queer me. I was 10 and she is still one of the greatest teachers of my life. 

Your new home is in Massachusetts, but you’re originally from North Carolina. What does “hometown” mean to you? Aside from family/loved ones, what’s something you remember loving about where you grew up? 

Education is power and that was instilled in me growing up in Raleigh, NC. There is an immense amount of state-funded support that goes to arts education. I went to one of the country’s top arts boarding high schools in North Carolina for free because that’s how much my hometown state believes in the arts.   

Given your extensive musical background, what’s a movie you love that you think would lend itself well to staged musical adaptation, and why? 

Oh my goodness—well, I’m going to cheat here and say a book. I would love to turn Madeline Miller’s Song Of Achilles into a Broadway musical. Her writing is so lyrical that I had staged the entire work in my head by the time I hit the last chapter. Her words also ring in your head like a good hook. To turn those queer love coming-of-age scenes and mythological battles into stagecraft magic would be thrilling beyond words. 

Image Credit: ‘Breaking New Ground,’ Max

Who is a queer or trans artist/performer/creator that you think is doing really cool work right now? Why are they someone we should all be paying attention to? 

We should all be following anything that Jeremy Pope puts his mind to. His new EP will make you think, cry, and celebrate the beauty of our collective queer journey. Also, anything that Zhailon Levingston directs I am there. Both of these men ask us to reimagine the spaces we get to take up and that’s a powerful move.  

The finale of Breaking New Ground begins streaming August 1, exclusively on Max.

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