Vaughn Irving is a spooky “Stapher” in DC Dead. Photo: Wilder Photography

By DCist Contributor Rachel Kurzius

You walk down L Street NW as the sun goes down, the final rays of light reflected on the gutted buildings. Then you see the sign.

You’ve arrived at DC Dead, an immersive theater adventure, in the building once known as Fort Fringe. Lights dangle precariously from the ceiling. A radio is on; lots of static, some eerie clips of an inspirational President Obama speech. People in fatigues are playing cards. These survivors are fighting over a food run to Safeway. Why get sunflower seeds instead of soup? They ask you where you were when you first saw the disease.

It’s a mutant form of a staph infection and now these “Staphers” (say it out loud) have totally overrun D.C. Scientists used to live in this building, working on a vaccine, before it was overrun by zombies.

Your mission is to save the city.

You go with your guide to find the vaccine components. You could go with Petworth (Paige Borders) or Shaw (Chao Sung) or Brookland (Amanda Haddock-Duchemin) or H Street (Rex Daugherty), but you go with NoMa (Philip Reid), who takes you to the Armory and explains the rules.

It’s a scavenger hunt meets choose-your-own-adventure. You get points if you collect things on your journey — food, scientific notes, survivors. A high score means temporary fame on social media, but there’s nothing like teeming crowds of staphers to make a Facebook post seem less important. The fog, the sounds of creaking and wailing, the strewn garbage all bring a sense of immediacy to the proceedings.

NoMa gives you a Nerf gun. “Shoot them in the head,” he tells you, “Otherwise they keep coming.” That is, except for The Dozer (Sean James), who has head gear. From The Dozer you can only run. If the Staphers get you, you become one of them. Then your mission is to munch on the flesh of your former compatriots still trying to find the vaccine.

You have lots of decisions to make. For instance, Kelly Owens (Mauriana Calhoun) is handcuffed to a chair. You’ve already read about her in journal entries left behind — she’s had a rough time of it. But do you rescue her? She might know where the vaccine is, but that gash on her arm looks awful worrisome. It’s up to you, NoMa says.

Fort Fringe, a theater complex that has housed the Capital Fringe Festival for years, will be demolished by 2015. It’s fitting for its last, large-scale event to be an undead exploration when the building itself faces an apocalypse.

Directors Rex Daugherty and Vaughn Irving conceived of DC Dead for a bachelor party. The staphers keep their rags on, though, and the perverse joy here comes from the thrills and scares. The more you get into your recruit role, the better the experience. Test the guides; they’ll give you backstories if asked, though at first you aren’t sure what the boundaries are.

Daughtery and Vaughn, along with their crew, pull off an incredible logistical feat. You really feel like Will Smith or some other action hero while you climb the stairs, watching your back and readying your gun. You keep hoping for one more epic scene before the credits roll.

New crews of recruits (six at the most) embark on their mission every 20 minutes, beginning at 7 p.m. with the last team leaving at 11 p.m., Thursday to Sunday, through November 1. You need to buy tickets, which start at $35, in advance. They’re available online or by calling 866-811-4111. Know that this is an active experience, so wear shoes you can run in.