Characters: 13 male, 6 female. Various sets. Winner! 2010 New York Musical Theatre Festival Award for Excellence Winner! National Music Theatre Network Award! This charming rags to riches romp with a melodic score follows Ragged Dick, Horatio Alger's first best selling hero, from penniless bootblack to budding Wall Street entrepreneur. His adventures bring him face to face with scheming ex convicts, vicious comic villians, kind benefactors and a world of colorful street characters. Set in the New York Centennial summer of 1876, this full of hopes and dreams musical is perfect for the whole family. "A charming, feel-good musical. The work's tremendous heart and unabashed celebration of Alger's popular stories are in ample evidence in this appealing musical about the rise from rags to riches." - Meredith Lee, Theatermania "SHINE! is one of those wonderful musicals where an audience cares deeply for the hero. Richard Seff's book and Lee Goldsmith's lyrics perfectly capture the Horatio Alger spirit ...Composer Roger Anderson's ballads are strikingly beautiful. As for his up-tempo songs, to call each a toe-tapper would only be 10% accurate ..." - Peter Filichia, The Star-Ledger "Awfully close to the sort of musical that made the form nationally beloved in the Rodgers and Hammerstein era." - Marc Miller, Backstage "Highly tuneful...A friendly show of considerable good humor." - Playbill

Just released from prison, Cooper Rease buys a rundown newspaper in a rundown town controlled by the states largest corporation that genetically modifies grain to test on hogs on a massive hog farm. Cooper is determined to uncover the crime and corruption in the county that led to the murder of his mother and four other landowners on property that now forms the hog farm. He needs help to get the truth in his newspaper and finds it in a tenacious young woman. When the local authorities threaten his newspaper and the huge corporation unleashes a violent attack against his existence and Serena, his young female assistant, more help arrives from an unexpected source.

The story of Boone, a sixteen-year-old father. The frivolous mother, prohibited by her religious parents to obtain an abortion, places the baby for adoption. Boone impulsively kidnaps his son before realizing the jeopardy of his action. A wounded activist veteran befriends them and draws them into a violent confrontation with police. A priest and a young learning attorney bring both help and obstacles to Boone's life and his objective to raise his son John. He is left with little option to be a father to Baby John. Two children are missing.Two parents, beset with personal disorders and distraught over their inability to communicate, struggle to correct a situation out of their hands. Another couple obsessed with control and social stature seek total dominance over lives not their own. A man of the cloth extends a helping hand and a promise of faith; a broken warrior offers friendship while striving to distance himself from demons of his past. A dedicated young woman attorney employs hard-earned skills on behalf of the missing two children, one a father, the other his son. But if justice is not found within parental endeavor, in houses of worship nor in halls of jurisprudence, then true justice can be achieved in only one place. True love.

By the year 2025 advances in solar energy collection and energy storage will enable the construction of a solar powered unmanned aerial system. Solar powered aircraft (SPA) will have the ability to remain airborne for months at a time and perform numerous roles and missions. Breakthroughs in nanotechnology and biotechnology will enable solar energy and energy storage capacity improvements to power an SPA. This paper will examine the history of, and ongoing research into, solar energy and energy storage. Then, based upon the rate of progress in these two fields, estimate their capability in the year 2025. Finally, it will briefly analyze potential roles and missions and determine a way forward for a solar powered aircraft.