Whodunnit?

• 'Curtain Call'

Jeff Nichol (left) and Paul Vonasek, who play detectives in “Curtain Call,” interrogate a murder suspect played by Catherine Erhardt. You can watch “Curtain Call,” written and directed by Michael Stromenger, online starting Wednesday.

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• If you watch 'Curtain Call'
• ON THE WEB: Curtain Call Series

Cassie Sterling’s reign as queen of the local theater scene is dramatic and brief when she’s gunned down in “Curtain Call,” a murder-mystery Web series written and directed by Michael Stromenger that will come online Wednesday.

Stromenger, a Larimore, N.D., native, a UND alum and a Fargo-Moorhead filmmaker, used mostly area actors in making “Curtain Call” and shot it at locations in Fargo and Moorhead. But putting his series online means it could be seen by anyone with access to a computer, in Fargo, in Los Angeles or in Australia for that matter.

“A Web series is like a miniaturized TV series where you have a weekly episode and you have an overarching story,” Stromenger explained. “A Web series just happens to have smaller episode sizes, usually around 5 to 10 minutes each.”

The first two episodes of “Curtain Call” will be posted Wednesday, with a new episode posted each following Wednesday until the story is told.

The story begins with a beautiful blond actress/singer, Cassie (Haley Boyd), who is shot to death during a performance, and the cops who try to solve the crime, especially Detective Page Williams, played by East Grand Forks native Paul Vonasek.

Boyd, Vonasek and Grand Forks native Daniel Dutot, who plays one of the murder suspects, all had leads in last summer’s Crimson Creek theater productions in Grand Forks, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” and “The Producers.” Other “Curtain Call” cast members are Kate Enge, Catherine Erhardt, Hardy Koenig, Marcus Mann, Steven Molony, Jeff Nichol and Taylor Schatz.

Stromenger, who graduated from Larimore High School in 1997, has been a theater buff since his school days, and after moving to Grand Forks to attend UND, he continued to act in productions at Frost Fire Theatre at Walhalla, N.D., and in Crimson Creek summer theater shows in Grand Forks (“Chicago,” “South Pacific”).

Initially Stromenger wanted to become a choir director, but by the time he got his degree at UND, he had a new goal. So, he enrolled at Minnesota State University Moorhead.“I kind of jumped into that with both feet, and after two years, I got a film production degree,” he said. He took a position at Prairie Public in Fargo, working as an editor and videographer, and currently is the AV technician in the film department at MSUM.

Stromenger said he hadn’t made a short film in a while, but he’d been noticing the growing popularity of Web series online.

“It was one of those things where you look at something and think, ‘Hey, I could do that,’” he said. He came up with a story (the ending came to him first, he said) and then went ahead with his project.

The technology that allows filmmakers like Stromenger to put their work online where anyone in the world can watch is changing the filmmaking industry.

“I’ve been making short films for a while and sending them to film festivals,” he said. “But it’s very tough to get noticed as a filmmaker in this area. You have to be working in Los Angeles or New York.”

But if you put your work online, that takes your work way beyond local, to an audience potentially greater than any festival.

“As filmmakers we talk about this a lot,” Stromenger said. “It’s amazing the ability they have (now) to get their work out to a greater audience, whether it’s on YouTube or a hosting site or their own website, they can get noticed.”

Stromenger also used his computer to raise the $2,500 he needed to make “Curtain Call.” He went to a website called kickstarter.com, called “a new way to fund and follow creativity.” There, Stromenger explained what he planned to do and asked for donations.

More than 70 people sent money for the making of “Curtain Call,” many of them people with whom Stromenger had grown up. The money paid for props, set dressing and costumes, but mainly food, Stromenger said. Like the Army, an acting company travels on its stomach.

“We fed our cast and crew well. I’ve worked in enough productions to know this is important,” he said. “Things were always a lot smoother when people were being well fed and hydrated.”

Stromenger’s theater experience meant he knew many of the actors who worked on “Curtain Call.” Vonasek was the first person he cast, Stromenger said.

“I realized I needed someone very strong and dedicated to play this main character,” he said.

When he opened auditions, he had enough interested (and talented) actors that he had to call back two or three people for each role.

“My main reason for creating this series is to showcase the sheer amount of talent that the F-M area has and to get the rest of the country to recognize it. The Internet is the most accessible platform out there and Web series are increasing in popularity. Pursuing this was a no-brainer,” Stromenger said.

Stromenger hopes people are intrigued the mystery and help spread the word. “Word of mouth is crucial to the success of anything on the Web. Everyone involved in this production put so much time and effort into it. They deserve to have as many people as possible recognize it.”

Tags: arts, entertainment, larimore, theater