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To jump or not to jump?

That's the main character's question in "High Dive," playwright Leslie Ayvazian's one-woman comedy, which opens tonight at the Vortex.

As the play starts, the main character, also named Leslie, is three weeks away from her 50th birthday and standing on the high dive at a Greek hotel's pool.

Her son tries to persuade her to jump from the platform, but Leslie is terrified by heights. She doesn't know what to do. As she hesitates, her life flashes before her eyes and the eyes of the audience, too.

Suddenly, Leslie is reliving experiences and travels in which she decided to or avoided making leaps — and the consequences of her actions or inactions.

"She is a very brave woman who is always stepping out of her comfort zone doing things she wouldn't ordinarily do," said Tish Miller, who is directing "High Dive."

Indeed, Ayvazian wrote a show filled with bizarre anecdotes in which her character shares, among other things, her experience with an earthquake while traveling in Mexico.

Even though some of the events may sound tragic and sad, the play seeks the humor every tale carries within.

"She has a funny way of looking at the world," said Leslee Richards, who portrays Leslie in "High Dive."

"She is a person to whom things happen — she has been in tornadoes, floods and motorcycle accidents."

Richards is very much a traveler herself. She is the general manager and co-owner of Lieber's Luggage — an Albuquerque business that sells luggage, travel accessories, cases and gifts — and she has journeyed to China, Costa Rica, Colombia and Europe, among other places.

"You have to identify with the people you are playing when you are acting," she said.

Richards is in her 50s and has two grown daughters.

She has performed in several plays at the Adobe Theater and the Desert Rose Playhouse, but this is the first time she has done a one-woman play. She's nervous about that.

"It is very challenging, mentally and emotionally," she said. "But that's why I act. It grabs all of you."

Miller, who most recently directed "The Exonerated" at the Adobe Theater in August 2006, prefers directing because it gives her control over the scenes.

"I enjoy directing because I love the process of building the play," she said.

Miller said she and Richards, who acted in "The Exonerated," had been looking for another project they could work on together and "High Dive" is the result. They have been rehearsing on and off for several months and are looking forward to the opening performance.

"It is a fun evening of storytelling," Miller said. "There are other people involved in the story, so we ask the audience to participate, giving them scripts."

The audience will be salted with ensemble cast members — Harry Zimmerman, Andrew Pollack and Diana Dorland — who will read some of the lines. But regular audience members will be recruited to read dialogue, from one word to several pages.

Miller said pulling the audience into the play helps them experience the point of the show, the willingness to take a chance and dive in.