A role can reveal a part of someone that ordinary introductions keep hidden.

Playing somebody else can be the most direct way to show yourself. A person who is quiet at a table can be enormous on a stage, funny in a costume, tender in a part written by a stranger, and none of that is pretence exactly; it is a permission structure. The role provides cover, and under cover people do things they would not risk as themselves.

If you know somebody who comes alive in a particular setting, go and see it. And if you have a version of yourself that only appears in one context, consider whether it deserves more room than you have been giving it.