Around Sweet Briar’s campus, Emily Olson is a familiar face. She served two years on the executive board of SGA, counts herself as a member of Tau Phi and the Sweet Tones, participates in the Pannell Art Gallery Docents program and has given tours of the College’s campus to prospective students. As a theater major, members of SBC’s Paint ’n Patches theater tap club call her “Madam President.” But in spite of her many leadership roles, she insists that she’s “not a diva.”

Emily Olson rehearses her show, which she will present Dec. 8 and 9.Her senior theater production, however, “is a diva-like project,” she says. “There’s a Futon in My Bathroom: The Musical Memoirs of Emily Olson,” will give the community a light-hearted, musical glimpse into the life of the multi-talented senior. She will present it at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 8 and 9, in the Blackbox Theater of the Babcock Fine Arts Center.

Olson describes the one-woman show as “something I’ve always secretly wanted to do.” Yet she initially had other plans for completing her capstone project.

“I wanted to direct a show, like everyone else,” she recalled. “And then I thought, ‘You know, I might as well just write and direct my own!’ ”

Olson’s musical autobiography begins during her middle school years, and continues through the present. Aspects of her adolescence — such as being the eldest of seven children and frequent moves due to her father’s job — will figure prominently in the production. Musical selections in her show include songs from “Chicago,” “Annie,” “My Fair Lady” and “The Wizard of Oz,” among others.

As the writer, director and sole actor in her production, Olson has a great deal to balance. “I’m a perfectionist, and I don’t want to disappoint my audience,” she said.

That prompted fellow senior Kim Battad to chime in. “She has arguments with herself a lot.”

Olson’s career in theater has its roots in a high school production of “The Sound of Music” and has continued in earnest at SBC, where she has performed in productions ranging from “Steel Magnolias” to the most recent main-stage musical, “A Little Night Music.”

“I came in thinking, I love theater, and I want to do something I love, and to stop being practical,” she said, laughing.

For the immediate future, however, Olson is putting her desire for a career in theater on hold. After she earns her degree in May, she will embark on an 18-month mission trip for her church, for which she is awaiting assignment. Nevertheless, her aspirations remain firmly grounded in drama.

“I like that [theater] is live, and you never quite know what’s going to happen,” Olson says. “I feed off the audience for energy.”

For now, she is bubbling with excitement at the prospect of sharing her life story in her one-woman show.

“Everyone has a story to tell,” she said. “And mine just happens to be a musical.”

For more information and to reserve complimentary seats, contact Battad at (434) 381-7244.

— By Katie Beth Ryan, ’08