Theater’s Former Operator Files for Bankruptcy : Entertainment: The current management says the previous regime has no connection with the site and that show schedules will not be affected.

SANTA ANA — The former operator of the Celebrity Theatre in Anaheim has filed a bankruptcy petition, but that company no longer has any connection with the theater, an executive for its current operator said.

The filing, said the executive with Avalon Attractions, will not affect the shows scheduled for the theater, among them a New Year’s Eve party starring comic Howie Mandel.

California Celebrity Theater Inc. filed for a Chapter 11 reorganization Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana. The Anaheim corporation listed $800,000 in assets and $150,000 in debts.

Neither that company’s president, Edward J. Haddad, nor his attorneys, A. Raymond Hamrick III and Albert M. Shephard, could be reached for comment. Shephard is handling the bankruptcy.

Haddad “has nothing to do with the Celebrity,” said the Avalon executive, who asked that his name not be disclosed. The filing “is part of the guy’s personal financial situation.”

The executive said the theater is still owned by the family of Orange County developer Leo Freedman, who opened it as the Freedman Forum in 1986. The $8-million venue, with its 2,500 seats set in the round and rotating stage, was designed for musical theater. That dream died quickly, however. The Freedman’s first stage venture, a production of “42nd Street” starring Peter Marshall and Constance Towers, proved to be its last, closing after a 24-day run. Shortly thereafter, the owners turned the theater’s operation over to a group headed by producers at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix.

As the Celebrity Theatre, the venue started offering a sometimes-sporadic schedule of pop and comedy concerts.

In late 1990, there was a violent melee during a concert by hard-core rapper Ice Cube. Police were forced to clear the theater when concert-goers clashed. One 16-year-old boy was shot in the abdomen; he survived.

City leaders asked operators of the Celebrity to ban rap performances, and the theater agreed to bar acts it thought would present a threat to the safety of concert-goers. Only two rappers have performed since, both without incident: Marky Mark last year and LL Cool J last month.