And others, I'm sure...
A Who's Who of "Who?"
Our "core six" don't exist in a vacuum and bounce off of other characters in the heightened surreality of the play. Each of these "plus five" characters in some way either individually or collectively mediate the "core six"'s experience of reality throughout the play. Crucially none of these people are in the same class as any of the "core six" which complicates the authority with which they mediate.
Note: "Man" and "Woman" are the names in the program for these characters - but each play several supporting roles that I'll be breaking out.
Plus Five
Colonel Martin (Francois Battiste)
Homeland security officer tasked with shutting down a cocaine smuggling ring that's believe to be run out of "Mediterranean rat hole" Moranda. His parents were tragically shot (by a gun Leo recognizes!) in Utica (the same town Leo's from!) for a pathetically small sum of money (the same sum Leo used parlay his wealth into!). He uses his authority to vouch to the "core six" that his lieutenant (Soldier)'s dream is worth listening to, despite their apprehensions.
Soldier (Jin Ha)
The "soulful, gorgeous, dreamy" lieutenant who meets the group alongside the Colonel in Osteria Zeno. He has had a profoundly strange dream which we quickly realize is to be taken as a metaphor for the play we're watching. Fritz and he become enamored with each other instantly, causing what we are to understand as a shift in Fritz's genderfluid identity.
Bishop (David Hyde Pierce)
Rather than the working priest paradigm of The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie's' bishop, the bishop in Here We Are is looking for work because nobody is interested in investigating the deeper meaning of things, and he's feeling like he's of no use in his current position. He arrives at the Morandan embassy just before the entire group gets stuck looking to find work as a cook, gardener - anything that actually might make a material change in the world.
Man (Denis O'Hare)
Waiter at Caffe Everything
Obsequious and subservient, he delivers dazzling wordplay that seems to promise greatness but amounts to nothing. Insofar as anything caught on from this play, it would be his line, explaining to the core six that they are completely out of food: "we do expect a little latte later but we haven't got a lotta latte now". When he couldn't please the group, he promptly goes off stage and shoots himself.
Waiter at Osteria Zeno
Indignant that that the prop food he serves the core six doesn't pass muster, he insists upon its value even as they deride the "rubber brie" and "cherry soda" wine
"Windsor"/Inferno
Rafael's personal butler at the Morandan embassy, thick British accented "Windsor" in fact turns out to be a working class schmo from the states secretly heading the terrorist organization PRADA (not the shoe). As Inferno, he devises a plot to overthrow capitalism that Fritz unknowingly blackmails the rest of the core six into funding (prior to the shift in their gender identity).
Woman (Tracie Bennett)
Eva
The Brinks' personal servant at their "paradise apartment" - the initial setting for the first scene. It's her refusal to prepare a meal for the group that arguably sets off the rest of the play
Hostess at Caffe Everything
Recognizes the Brinks and Raffael and seats them immediately. Pointedly effusive in praise to those she recognizes, her referring to Fritz and the Bursik-Zimmers as "others, I'm sure" reminds us that even within the "Core Six" there's striation
Waitress at Bistro a la Mode
Bleakly describes the post-deconstructivist milieu of the bistro as "it is what it is". Refuses to honor Claudia's insistence that she and Paul are regulars at the bistro, and continues to take the group's orders even after they discover the original owner, Philipe is dead and laid out in funereal arrangement in the party room.
