The poem We Wear the Mask by Paul Dunbar is filled with many powerful statements. Dunbar talks and writes about how there is so much pain behind people's smiles and so much pain in their past. He also asks why society should be “too wise”; tries to act like he knows what's best for people. The play An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has much in common with this poem. Nataki Garrett, the director of this show at Mixed Blood Theatre, saw how well this poem fit into the show and added it to the program. Both the poem and the play talk about what it was like for African Americans to live in a white-dominated society. Throughout the entire work the audience can see the connections between the poem and the work. The whole play