Washington National Opera Finds a Stage Outside the Kennedy Center

The Washington National Opera will host two operas this spring season at George Washington University, where the organization got its start nearly 70 years ago, after parting ways with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts this month.

The opera announced on Friday that its 70th season will continue on March 7 at the university’s Lisner Auditorium with the world premiere of a new version of Scott Joplin’s “Treemonisha.” Performances of Robert Ward’s “The Crucible,” based on the Arthur Miller play, also at the Lisner, will follow beginning on March 21.

The venue and specific dates for Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story,” conducted by Marin Alsop, have yet to be announced. The opera said its annual gala, whose location has not been announced, will be hosted by the “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz, who had recently said he would not set foot inside the Kennedy Center.

Performances associated with the American Opera Initiative, which supports first-time opera composers and librettists, have been postponed.

“For this moment, returning to Lisner Auditorium is both a homecoming and renewal,” Timothy O’Leary, the opera’s general director, said in a statement. “Thanks to our community of support, W.N.O. will continue to be a source of beauty, connection, and free expression for another 70 years and beyond.”

The opera said in its statement that it received an influx of donations, from more than 500 donors, after its announcement last Friday that it would seek a new home amid clashes with the Trump administration and its allies, who have sought to rename the Kennedy Center in honor of President Trump. (The authority of the board to overrule Congress and rename the center is disputed, and The New York Times has continued to refer to its legal name.)

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In a statement last week, Roma Daravi, a spokeswoman for the Kennedy Center, attributed the breakup to financial struggles.

“After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to part ways with the W.N.O. due to a financially challenging relationship,” she said. “We believe this represents the best path forward for both organizations and enables us to make responsible choices that support the financial stability and long-term future of the Trump Kennedy Center.”

Attendance at the opera had declined after Mr. Trump returned to office last year and quickly installed himself as the Kennedy Center’s public face — naming himself chairman, filling its historically bipartisan board with loyalists and personally hosting the ceremony for the annual Kennedy Center Honors. Since Mr. Trump’s name was added to the center, many artists have said they would no longer perform there.

Francesca Zambello, who has served as the opera’s artistic director for 14 years, suggested that its performances this spring season sent a broader message about the company’s values.

“We will present three American works that explore themes at the heart of what makes our country great,” she said in the statement. “‘Treemonisha’ celebrates the triumph of education over ignorance, while ‘The Crucible’ is a cautionary tale about a righteous mob that murders innocent women and tears families apart. We close with ‘West Side Story’, a modern spin on the Shakespeare play that Leonard Bernstein called ‘an out and out plea for racial tolerance.’”

The Lisner Auditorium, at George Washington University, is smaller than the Kennedy Center’s Opera House, with 1,400 seats compared to about 2,300 at the center.

The company will also host events at a variety of other venues around Washington, including St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church, St. Thomas Episcopal Church and the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center, where participants of the opera’s Cafritz Young Artist Program will perform “Beethoven & Bohème” next month.

Reggie Ugwu is a Times culture reporter.

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