A month after departing from its longtime residency at national performing arts venue the Kennedy Center, the Washington National Opera is bringing several performances to Strathmore.

The WNO’s spring production of “West Side Story” will take place at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda on May 14 and 15, with additional performances at the Lyric Baltimore on May 8, 9 and 10.

“We are grateful that so many people and partners have come together so WNO can ‘go on with the show,’” WNO General Director Timothy O’Leary said in a statement. “The public has rallied around Washington National Opera as more than just an arts organization, but as a part of American civil society, one of many institutions that make our culture more compassionate, connected and beautiful.”

The WNO announced in January that it would be parting ways with the Kennedy Center after 55 years. It joined a growing number of artists, productions and audience members who have boycotted the Kennedy Center in response to President Donald Trump’s takeover of the performing arts center. Trump packed the center’s board with allies who quickly elected him chairman and renamed it “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

In that same WNO announcement, the opera company also shared a slew of new locations and upcoming shows in the area, including a Jan. 23 production of “My Genius, My Angel, My Friend” at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church in Bethesda and future “West Side Story” performances with locations and dates to come.

The “West Side Story” production stars Ryan McCartan (previously Fiyero in “Wicked,” Hans in “Frozen” and Jay Gatsby in “The Great Gatsby” on Broadway) as Tony, and Shereen Pimentel as Maria (a role she played in the 2020 Broadway revival of “West Side Story”).

“[Leonard] Bernstein examined a violent clash of cultures through an unsparing lens, exposing us to the inevitable tragedy that comes when we see only someone’s ‘other-ness’ — and not our shared humanity,“ WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello said in a statement. ”Bernstein’s and Shakespeare’s powerful stories powerfully depict how easily fear divides us, and how urgently understanding is needed, both then and now.”

Zambello previously referred to “West Side Story” as “a modern spin on the Shakespeare play that Leonard Bernstein called ‘an out and out plea for racial tolerance.’”

She added: “I am thrilled that more audiences in our nation’s capital will have the opportunity to experience these profound works of art. I hope our productions can serve as a springboard for dialogue and perhaps even a source of healing.”