Parks and Recreation Wiki

This site contains spoilers! Proceed with caution!

READ MORE

Parks and Recreation Wiki
Advertisement
Parks and Recreation Wiki

File:Creating April Ludgate (Parks and Recreation)

Aubrey Plaza on creating April Ludgate.

April Roberta Ludgate-Dwyer (née Ludgate) is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. At the beginning of the series, she is an apathetic college student and is Ron Swanson's assistant. She is employed by the Pawnee Department of Parks and Recreation originally as an intern. Her alter egos are Janet Snakehole and Judy Hitler. She is portrayed by Aubrey Plaza.

File:Parks and Recreation TV Clip - Clip 1

More important than that and more important than anything in the world is finding me (Ron) an assistant.

Background

April Ludgate is a college student who starts out working as an intern in the Pawnee parks and recreation department. April is extremely disinterested in the job, and acts very dry and sarcastic around her co-workers. She was assigned the internship because she overslept on intern sign-up date, which she blamed on her sister Natalie for not waking her up.[1][2] April is of mixed Enuerto Rican descent, and she speaks and understands Spanish fairly well as a result. April ironically claims of her Puerto Rican heritage, "That's why I'm so lively and colorful."[3] Her favorite band is Neutral Milk Hotel .

April was responsible for uploading the staff bios onto the Pawnee parks and recreation site[4], and she jokingly made a fictional bio for herself that reads as follows:

April Ludgate was born in Björk’s house in Iceland and grew up on Easter Island, where her parents were giant stone heads. She has the ability to fire beams of tacos out of her hands and she can turn her legs into tigers. On Sundays, April enjoys reading Family Circus and traveling through time. Her favorite color is greenish-transparent and her favorite movie is the one you just watched. April is in charge of uploading the staff bios to the website, and no one has checked over her work.[4]

Storyline

Season 1

April starts as an intern at the parks department, who is somewhat rebellious and is often annoyed by her fellow parks department workers. Her boyfriend, Derek, is openly gay and simultaneously dates a fellow college student named Ben (whom April dislikes). Aubrey Plaza herself came up with the idea of her character's boyfriend being gay and dating another boy.[5]

Season 2

Although still dating her gay boyfriend, April begins to develop a crush on Andy Dwyer, the ex-boyfriend of Ann Perkins who works at city hall, and is seen hanging around Andy's Shoe Polishing Stand frequently.[6] Andy is able to make April smile, which is something she rarely does.[7] April flirts with Andy and even convinces Andy to let her give him hickeys on his neck in order to make Ann jealous, but Andy nevertheless remains unaware of her feelings toward him.[8] In order to remain close to Andy, April volunteers to work as Ron's assistant in "The Set Up", ending her time as an intern and establishing herself a full-time position at the Pawnee City Hall.[9] April finally breaks up with Derek after he makes fun of Andy and gives her a hard time about spending too much time with him. [10] Toward the end of the season Andy and April's relationship begins to grow to the point that he begins to reciprocate her feelings but their age difference continues to be a wedge between them. In the season finale, Andy tells April that he likes her and asks her out, but she tells him she does not want to get involved with him due to what she perceives as his lasting feelings for Ann. When Andy is hospitalized, she comes to him and says that she wants to go out with him and then kisses him. Unfortunatly Ann kissed Andy earlier and when Andy tells her this, she leaves.

Season 3

In "Go Big or Go Home", April reveals she's spent the last 3 months in Venezuela while the government was shut down in Pawnee due to the budget problem. While she was there, she met her new boyfriend Eduardo. At first, Andy is upset and hates Eduardo, but then the two get along and bond over Dave Matthews Band. Since she was hoping to use Eduardo to make Andy jealous, this infuriates April and she breaks up with him. April catches the flu in the episode "Flu Season" and proceeds to bug Ann throughout her hospital stay due to Ann kissing Andy. She also becomes Chris Traeger's assistant for an episode. In "Media Blitz", April makes Andy do her least favorite things she has to do every day and in exchange she "might begin to think about the possiblity of thinking about maybe staying". After one day of Andy doing her least favorite things with Ron and Ron's advice, she forgives Andy and kisses him. In "Harvest Festival", April declares her love for Andy. They get married in the episode "April and Andy's Fancy Party" on a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Season 4

April and Andy throw a Halloween Party in which Ron and Ann go around fixing all of the problems in April and Andy's house. She becomes a member of Leslie's City Council Campaign as the "youth outreach". In the episode "The Comeback Kid" April and Andy adopt a three-legged dog named "Champion". April takes over a large portion of Leslie's duties in the Parks and Rec department towards the end of the season to allow Leslie to concentrate on the election.  April is shown to somewhat enjoy and excel in this position. In "Bus Tour", April becomes legally known as April Ludgate-Dwyer.

Season 5

April moves to Washington D.C. while Andy tries to get into the Pawnee Police Department. Their marriage isn't harmed by the distance and Andy often sends her gifts. April becomes Deputy Director of the Animal Control. Towards the end of Season 5, April asks Ann for a letter of recommendation to veterinary school in Bloomington. In the final episode, April reveals to Andy that she was accepted, to which Andy replies encouragingly.

Season 6

At the beginning of Season 6, April is planning on attending Veterinary School, however upon going to the orientation with Ann she realises it is not what she wants to do. While she supports Andy for having a job away in London, she is very upset while he is away and misses him. She develops a closer relationship with Donna, and they both try to stop Tom leaving the Parks Department by being unhelpful as he searches for a property for his restaurant. However, they later feel guilty, and help him find the perfect place. When Andy returns, she actively supports him on playing music for children, deciding to become his manager. While she makes out she is excited that Ann is leaving Pawnee, the pair share a nostalgic farewell at the Pawnee Commons site in "Ann and Chris". Along with Andy, Tom and some other Pawnee youths, she comes up with idea to hold a Unity concert celebrating the merger. in the season finale, it is revealed that April and Andy are still happily married in 2017, with April working for Leslie.

Season 7

It's 2017 and April laments her marriage to Andy as she feels they'll become boring in their old age. While driving through the warehouse district, they spot a creepy old house with an equally creepy owner. He tells them it was a place for old factory workers who ended up going mad. They decide to purchase it. When Joan Callamezzo is honored by the mayor, April starts to feel that her life hasn't been fulfilled yet so Ben asks her what she wanted to be when she was ten years old so they visit a mortuary. However, April is unimpressed with how long it will take for her to get a job there. She later thanks Ben for helping her.

In "Ms. Ludgate-Dwyer Goes to Washington", April is trying to find a way to tell Leslie that she wants to leave the National Parks Service. When she finally tells Leslie, after a bit of reluctance, Leslie decides to help her. Leslie takes April to the American Service Foundation, which helps determine potential occupations for job-seekers. After April's meeting, April tells Leslie that she would like to work at the Foundation itself.

On the series finale, April and Andy become parents after Andy's desire and talking to Ben and Leslie. Jack Dwyer (short for Burt Snakehole Ludgate Karate Dracula Macklin Demon Jack-o-Lantern Dwyer) was born on Halloween 2023. She is shown pregnant again with her second child at the end.

Trivia

  • She once drove a riding lawn mower through Nordstrom's.
  • April has attended college. 
  • She claims to love Ron's first wife, Tammy One, saying she's the "cold, distant mother I never had".
  • She reveals in "Summer Catalog" that she played softball in high school.
  • Her parents' nickname for her is Zuzu.
  • She married Andy after dating him for a month.
  • She pairs up Tom and Ann, to her regret, and also tries to set up Chris with Andy's college professor.
  • In Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America, April says she only takes one course a semester at Pawnee Community College.
  • She created her own major in college: Halloween Studies.
  • She gives birth to her first child, Jack, with monster makeup on and the song "Monster Mash" playing.

Photos

This character has a Photo Gallery.

References

  1. Parks & Recreation: Season One. [Film (DVD)]. Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Event occurs at Deleted Scenes: Pilot. 
  2. "Parks and Recreation - Pilot: April the Intern". NBC. http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation/video/clips/pilot-april-the-intern/1088084/. Retrieved 2009-04-22. 
  3. Fowler, Matt (2009-10-16). "Parks and Recreation: "Sister City" Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/103/1035767p1.html. Retrieved 2009-10-24. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 http://www.pawneeindiana.com/parks-and-recreation/staff.shtml
  5. Schur, Michael. (2009) (Audio commentary). Parks and Recreation: Season One: "Rock Show". [DVD]. Universal Studios Home Entertainment. 
  6. Abrams, Natalie (2009-11-18). "Parks and Recreation: Leslie and Co. Have Love Woes". TV Guide. http://www.seattlepi.com/tvguide/412433_tvgif18.html. Retrieved 2009-11-22. 
  7. Fowler, Matt (2009-11-20). "Parks and Recreation: "Hunting Trip" Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/104/1048012p1.html. Retrieved 2009-11-22. 
  8. Heisler, Steve (2009-11-19). "Parks and Recreation: "Hunting Trip"". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/hunting-trip,35615/. Retrieved 2009-11-22. 
  9. Gonzalez, Sandra (January 15, 2010). ""Parks and Recreation" recap: Will Arnett can see your insides". Entertainment Weekly. http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/01/15/parks-and-recreation-recap-will-arnett-can-see-your-insides/. Retrieved January 15, 2010. 
  10. Gonzalez, Sandra (February 12, 2010). Entertainment Weekly url=http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/02/12/parks-and-recreation-recap-breaking-up-is-hard-to-do/. 
Characters

LeslieRonTomAnnBenChrisMarkAprilAndyDonnaJerryMore

Advertisement