‘Ghosts’ cast connects with characters’ histories at Library of Congress

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that James Madison had once owned the flute from the Library of Congress that musical artist Lizzo played in 2022.

Actors from the CBS comedy series “Ghosts” connected with their spectral characters through historical artifacts and exhibits at the Library of Congress Tuesday, where the show’s fourth season premiered to a sold-out theater.

Cast members present for the showing played characters hailing from eras associated with Prohibition, women’s suffrage, precolonial America and more.

Richie Moriarty, who plays a 1980’s scoutmaster with a signature practice arrow lodged in his neck, said the venue went beyond publicity. 

“With almost all of the publicity we do in New York or LA, it’s very industry focused. So to have the focus be turned on the history of these characters, and to be in a venue like this that is so rich with history, it’s amazing,” Moriarty said. 

Though many characters in the series are not based on real people, cast members and the public were able to observe original, preserved artifacts from the characters’ worlds. Included were sheet music from songs by Black, female jazz singers, rare comic books, texts from the women’s suffrage movement, guides to safely handling bows and arrows, AND portraits of Native Americans.

Román Zaragoza, who plays a long-passed member of the Lenape Tribe — and is himself a descendent of the Akimel O’otham Tribe — said exhibits showcasing Native American artifacts and culture struck him. 

“This has hit me way harder than I was expecting,” he said. “It makes me think about how this show can hit people way harder than they expect as well — comedy is a way we can talk about history, talk about how we got here.”

After listening to a rare “wax cylinder” recording of purportedly Native American origin, Zaragoza said he was nearly moved to tears. Fellow cast members shared similar reactions to the artifacts.

“To see these artifacts today was really emotional,” said Danielle Pinnock, who plays Alberta, a Black jazz singer from the Prohibition era.

“It makes me want to kind of preserve some of the things that I have at home,” Pinnock said, “whether that’s journals or newspaper articles, and I feel so lucky to be on the show because these episodes are our historical artifacts.”

“The foundation of this country is Native and Indigenous people, it is Black people, it is immigrants — and to be here, it just feels like they’re all smiling down on us, and they’re so proud,” she said.

It’s the latest of several recent events the Library of Congress has hosted fusing pop culture and history.

The Library of Congress invited musical artist Lizzo to play a 200-year-old crystal flute, which had once been owned by James Madison, in 2022. More recently, it hosted a ceremony awarding musical artist Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

“So it’s part of the Library’s big mission and vision to connect all Americans to the Library of Congress,” said Roswell Encina, chief communications officer for the Library of Congress. 

“Each of the ghosts are connected to part of our history, whether you’re Native Americans, or a hippie, or a Wall Street bro, or somebody from the Gilded Age; it showcases that the Library of Congress has items from all these different eras,” he said.