Seattle Rotary’s August 5, 2026 luncheon at the Washington Athletic Club offered a program that blended music, candor, and civic urgency, centering on the future of one of Seattle’s most beloved cultural institutions: the Fifth Avenue Theatre. President John Steckler opened the meeting by welcoming Rotarians and guests and briefly stepping into the day’s wider context, noting the devastating wildfires in Eastern Washington and Rotary’s responsibility to respond. “We do care about them,” he said, adding that the club would be talking with the Rotary Service Foundation “to see what we can do to help.”

From the outset, the program’s theme was clear: community, memory, and the role of the arts in holding both together. The music committee set the tone with “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” drawing enthusiastic applause. Later, vocalists Tori and Luke delivered a moving rendition of “What I Did for Love” from A Chorus Line, a show slated for the Fifth Avenue’s upcoming season. That song, as it turned out, served as an emotional overture to the story of a theater fighting to sustain its mission in challenging times.

The day’s main speaker, Fifth Avenue Theatre Artistic and Executive Director Bill Berry, began by explaining why that particular number resonated so strongly for him. “The Fifth Avenue is special for many reasons,” Berry told the club. “It’s a place where dreams come true, but it’s not just where dreams come true. It’s also where memories are born.” Families come for holiday productions, couples come for first dates, and audience members, he said, often carry those memories with them for the rest of their lives.