

In this Performing Arts Q&A session, I speak with Erin Woods of Reduxion Theatre about the zombie-rific production of OKC Dead.

What five words would you use to describe OKC Dead?

Immersive. Exhilarating. One-of-a-kind. Zombie-rific. Game-tastic.

Now, using more than five words, what’s it about?

Adapted especially for Reduxion Theatre by creator Rex Daugherty, this choose-your-own-adventure experience has been described as “Sleep No More meets The Walking Dead meets Grand Guignol Theatre of Horror.”Reduxion Theatre Company wants to surprise you this Halloween. By pushing boundaries and subverting your expectations of live theatre, Reduxion brings to the Civic Center Music Hall a completely immersive “zombie survival experience:” OKC Dead. Based on the 2014 Washington D.C. independent stage hit, DC Dead, this interactive live event shambles into OKC this October. Adapted especially for Reduxion Theatre by creator Rex Daugherty, this choose-your-own-adventure experience has been described as “Sleep No More meets The Walking Dead meets Grand Guignol Theatre of Horror.”

OKC Dead will make your heart race and your arm take aim as you escape zombies in real time, solve puzzles with your team and race to find the cure and save the city. Survival teams of eight (8) enter the adventure, every 20 minutes beginning at 7:00 pm each Thursday, Friday and Saturday, October 8-31. Survivors get a chance to solve the mystery, while victims make their Zombie transformations. This event involves Zombie tagging, nerf guns and walking up and down stairs. Shows are approximately 45 minutes in length. Recommended for ages 14 and older. “Survive the infection. Find the cure. Save the city.”

How does the live interaction and the show work together?

This show is no way a typical night at the theatre. It is an adventure where the audience is the main character. When you attend, you are a survivor, a “recruit” asked to help the effort to find the cure for the “zombie” infection and save OKC and the world. You receive training with your nerf gun and a guide takes you through several areas of the building to collect supplies, fight off dangerous zombies or “twisters,” and find the cure that will save humanity. It is part haunted house, part game, part immersive theatre.

What can people expect? Will guests get splattered with blood?

Recruits receive white t-shirts when they arrive which are “zombie barometers.” They wear the shirts over their clothes and if they are tagged too many times by zombies, they become infected. The zombies or “twisters” have stage blood on their hands. No real biting or combat occurs.

How scary is it?

It is recommended for 14 years and older. The point of a typical Haunted House is to shock audiences with gore and surprises. OKC Dead is so much more than that; therefore, I would rate it as LESS scary than a typical Haunted House. The show does have actors as “twisters” who will “attack.” For families, I would recommend watching our online preview video to gage whether it is appropriate for your child.

What was the biggest challenge with this production?

OKC Dead is so avant-garde, it is difficult to describe to our patrons and theatre goers. It is so a-typical a piece of art, it is going to surprise you in the best way!!

You’re the only seasonal performing arts show for Halloween this year in the metro. Any pressure?

I think this show is so different, it is going to change the way people define live theatre in central Oklahoma. It’s a pretty major event!

Anything else you want people to know?

For tickets:

http://www.reduxiontheatre.com/tickets

Call: 405-297-2264

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