3 taken to L&M after gas leak detected at O'Neill Center Hammond Mansion

Waterford — Three Eugene O’Neill Theater Center staff members were taken to Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London Monday afternoon as a precaution after a gas leak was detected in the Hammond Mansion on the theater’s grounds.

Preston Whiteway, the O’Neill’s executive director, said the three became lightheaded and that prompted the precautionary transport to the hospital. An initial call came in shortly before 3 p.m. Firefighters and emergency personnel responded and searched for the source of the leak, Whiteway said. Gas was shut off to the building in the meantime.

No students were on the grounds because the theater center’s National Theater Institute is not in session. The summer staff is preparing for the Tony Award-winning theater’s summer performances, which kick off later this month.