The Fiskes’ organization has become definitely known as the Manhattan Company, though they no longer control the theatre of that name. “As a producer of plays” Madame Réjane once said, “Mrs. Fiske has no superior in Europe.” The uniformity of ability in the actors, the adjustment of the characters which often kept Mrs. Fiske herself in the background, contrary to the usages of “stars,” the detailed excellence of the stage “business” (as the ballroom scene in _Becky Sharp_) have always given the productions the interest, the appearance of life itself. It is familiar knowledge among those who have closely watched the American stage that Mrs. Fiske is one of the best stage directors of the time. The careful, extended rehearsal of a play is hard work, but Mrs. Fiske, with the active nervous temperament that demands hard work, is equal to it. She personally directs the rehearsals of her companies, and when one remembers _Mary of Magdala_, for instance, which demanded a hundred actors and was rehearsed more than six weeks, or when one recollects the practically flawless stage management of any Fiske production, her merit as an imaginative producer becomes apparent. Like her acting, her stage management is quiet, effective, tensely alive. During the retirement immediately following her marriage, and since, Mrs. Fiske has found time to write a number of plays. _A Light from St. Agnes_ is a one-act play of much dramatic power telling a tragic story of low life among the bayous of Louisiana. _The Rose_ is another one-act tragedy once played by Rosina Vokes’s company. _The Eyes of the Heart_ is likewise a short play, having for its principal character an old blind man who, after losing his fortune, is kept in ignorance of his poverty by his family and friends. All three of these pieces were played at various times and with considerable success by Mrs. Fiske and her company. She wrote several other plays, some of them longer, but none well known today. _John Doe_ was a dramatization of a sketch by Mr. Fiske; _Grandpapa_, _Not Guilty_ and _Common Clay_ were all long plays; _Fontenelle_, which she wrote with Mr. Fiske, was played by James O’Neill; _Countess Roudine_ was written with the help of Paul Kester and was once in the repertoire of Modjeska. _The Dream of Matthew Wayne_ was also written by Mrs. Fiske. Mrs. Fiske has said that the life of an actor is intolerably narrowed if he has no interests outside the theatre. Such interests she has. The strongest is her devotion to the welfare of dumb animals. The trapping of fur bearers, the cruel conditions in cattle trains, lack of shelter on the ranges, bull-fights, vivisection, all have had her for an enemy. Individual cases of cruelty are constantly receiving relief at her hands and to various allied causes her money and time has been given generously. She often makes addresses before meetings in the interest of such reforms, and at such times the actress is quite forgotten in the humane woman.[175]