As the lights dimmed and the curtains divided, the Gaslight Melodrama Theatre traveled to a time where adventurous cowboys, suave sheriffs and ditsy sweethearts roamed the saloons of Bakersfield.

A performance held on Feb. 12 brought a full house of guests that settled into reserved seating in excitement to see “Shootout At Ethel’s Old Coral.”

Tim and Heidi Green are regular customers at the Gaslight Melodrama and enjoy coming to see its year round productions.

“We really enjoy coming to watch the show here and we usually have season tickets,” said Heidi Green.

“We’re familiar with the cast and think its great how the stories tie in to Kern County.”

The show starred Ethel Spencer, played by actress Coryn McBride.

McBride was successful in drawing roaring laughs from the crowd as she continuously made comical jokes and innuendos about her “special sarsaparilla” and marital status.

Coryn McBride and four other actors achieved the shows western theme by wearing the appropriate attire of corsets, bustles, gun satchels, and cowboy boots.

The moral of the story is to get Ethel to sell her late father’s saloon.

Along the way, she and her sister face several obstacles of shoot-outs and protests,

They are fully satisfied when good prevails over evil and the bad cowboy is forced to run out of town.

Artistic director and set designer, Michael Prince, attended the evening show with his son.

The pair came to support the cast and watch his wife Jennifer perform as Prudence, one of the main characters that’s a protesting holy roller.

“The theater is family owned and we’ve all been at this location for the past five years,” said Prince.

The Gaslight Melodrama Theatre and Music Hall originated from its main location in Oildale and was once known as the Vaudeville Express.

Today, the Melodrama family remains successful in attracting new viewers to its fairly new location off of Allen and Rosedale highway.

Saturday night’s wall to wall audience and crowded bar shows proof of Melodrama’s success in attracting new people.

“We welcome everyone to come see our shows and we guarantee they’ll love it,” said Producer Arnie Carlos.

Carlos has been the owner of the theater, alongside his wife Linda Larma.

“We have many different shows for people to come bring their families and friends,” said Carlos.

At the end of the show, guests left satisfied and encouraged to return to the place where only they would be familiar when hearing the “Code of the West!”