On September 18, the cast of NBC’s Parks and Recreation plans on bringing a little Pawnee, Indiana to the Wisconsin Democratic party. In a live-streamed event, actors Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation, Inside Out), Adam Scott (Big Little Lies, The Good Place), Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation, Legion), Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation, Fargo), Retta (Parks and Recreation, Good Girls) and Jim O’Heir (Parks and Recreation, Bless this Mess) are to join showrunner Michael Shur (The Office, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) for “A Parks and Rec Town Hall”, confirmed by Variety.
Wisconsin is a crucial battleground in the upcoming 2020 election and the Parks and Recreation cast is determined to secure a Biden victory in the state. To attend the town hall, one must donate a minimum of 1 dollar to the Wisconsin Democratic party, though according to the event’s website “most people are chipping in $27.” Their goal is clear “anything you donate will be used to ensure that Trump loses Wisconsin, and thereby the White House” (Event Site).
The Parks and Recreation reunion has been orchestrated in conjunction with Act Blue, a nonprofit organization focused on promoting Democratic candidates and progressive causes. Plaza has advocated Act Blue campaigns on her social media before, recently tweeting her support for their Super States initiative, and now she will have the opportunity to bring her Parks character April Ludgate to the cause.
The announcement of “A Parks and Rec Town Hall” came on Sunday, the same day that The Princess Bride hosted their virtual cast reunion for table-read championing the same cause. The Princess Bride live-stream also required a minimum 1 dollar donation in support of the Wisconsin Democratic party. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 100,000 fans tuned in to watch The Princess Bride cast reunite with special guests such as Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things, IT) and Whoopi Goldberg (Sister Act, Star Trek: The Next Generation), followed by a Q&A hosted by comedian Patton Oswalt (A.P. Bio, The Goldbergs).
“A Parks and Rec Town Hall” also promises a Q&A and some surprise guests of their own. Oswalt himself was featured in Parks and Recreation, conducting an iconic Star Wars-themed filibuster, so perhaps he will continue his support for the Wisconsin Democratic Party and make an appearance in the September 18 special. Rob Lowe (Parks and Recreation, The Outsiders), who played Parks and Rec’s aggressively positive Chris Traeger, was not among the announced cast members for “A Parks and Rec Town Hall”, though he will be reprising his first-ever role in televised politics in The West Wing’s reunion to benefit When We All Vote, coming to HBO Max in the fall.
This town hall event will not be the first reunion or fundraiser conducted by the Parks and Recreation cast this year, as they first came together for a scripted special on NBC in April to raise money for COVID-19 relief. Variety reports that the April reunion raised upwards of 2.8 million, with 3.6 million viewers tuning in. A repeat in that turn-out stands to make a great deal of money for the Wisconsin Democratic Party by the time the event streams, 8 p.m. CT on September 18.