Even without an audience, members of the Old Rochester Regional Drama Club gave a performance to remember on Saturday as the “victims” of a mass casualty drill.

Lying in a smoke-filled classroom at Rochester Memorial School, covered in fake blood, the sounds of students’ cries of agony were something first responders never want to hear but have to be prepared for.

“People don’t know the emotional toll it takes,” said Lt. Justin Dubois of the Mattapoisett Fire Department. “It shows what our guys have to go through.”

He was one of the organizers for Saturday’s drill, which included more than 30 members of the tri-town fire departments, Mattapoisett Police, Wareham EMS, Brewster’s private ambulance service and the Massachusetts Office of Emergency Medical Services.

Before the drill began, students each chose a card with a profile of the victim they would represent – one student had a serious eye injury, another had her teeth knocked out and still another had a head injury that left him thinking his name was “purple.”

The students had a lot of fun “method acting.” Senior Sara Achorn brought a bottle of artificial blood, and by the time the students were done with their makeup, they all looked “zombie vogue.”

“I wish I had known there were fractures,” Achorn said. “I would have gone to the Halloween store.”

Once the students were in their places, they took their roles seriously.

“It’s like a ‘Walking Dead’ episode,” Dubois said.

The drill began soon after and was carried out as a real emergency would be. The officers, stationed at the nearby Rochester Fire Department, didn’t know what the casualty would be until they got the call.

Firefighters had to get into the building, find the students, rescue them and get them to triage, located in the school’s gym.

“You might want to go a little bit faster,” Dubois prodded the first group of firefighters.

Coughing, screaming and crying, each victim was assessed in triage before taking a short ambulance ride to the cafeteria, which served as the hospital.

Jeff Eldridge of the Rochester Fire Department praised the teens.

“They’re doing awesome,” he said. With his own daughter one of the maimed, he did admit that the sound of the students’ screams, was chilling.

In the makeshift hospital, participants said these kinds of drills are important exercises to see what problems need to be worked out.

Marion EMS Lt. Kevin Buckley said there were some issues with radio communication.

“In real life, this is what happens. It happened in New York (during 9/11),” he said.

Mattapoisett EMT Donna Wunschel said, “You’ve got to put this stuff together to see how it works.”

Dubois would like to see the tri-town first responders hold two mass casualty drills a year. Though they do take months to organize, they prepare police, firefighters and EMTs for real-life situations.

And though the students had a good time acting their part, the event was also a wake up call for them.

“That was actually kinda scary because this could actually happen in our school,” Andrew Steele said.

Camryn Kidney also said, “We’re all friends. It just made it that much more emotional.”

Dubois said the students did a great job as did the officers and EMTs. The latter debriefed after the location was secured.

For his part, Luke Couto was proud that he didn’t break character. Even in the ambulance when EMTs asked him for his real name he responded “purple.”

“They didn’t crack me.”