Sara Thacher Explained

Sara Thacher
Occupation:Experience designer, Disney Imagineer
Notable Works:, The Jejune Institute, Haunted Mansion: Ghost Post, The Optimist

Sara Thacher is an American game and experience designer. She is one of the founders of the San Francisco-based immersive experience The Jejune Institute and works as a creative director and senior R&D Imagineer at Walt Disney Imagineering, including creative leadership on the two-day immersive Disney experience.[1]

Education

Thacher studied glass at the Rhode Island School of Design and earned a Masters of Fine Arts in Social Practice at the California College of the Arts.[2] [3]

Career

Thacher was one of the creators of the multi-chapter interactive experience The Jejune Institute[4] in San Francisco, with Jeff Hull and Uriah Findley. She served as a lead producer and experience designer for Nonchalance after answering a Craigslist recruiting ad.[3] [5] She is featured in the 2013 documentary about The Jejune Institute, The Institute.

She later worked for The Go Game[3] and was a producer and designer on FutureCoast, a future forecasting game by World Without Oil's Ken Eklund that ran in February 2014.[6] FutureCoast was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation to Columbia University's Polar Partnership.[7]

The game explored climate change, its effect on polar ice, and rising sea levels through a series of voicemails from the future.[8] The game also used in-person experiences, geocached items, and social media to engage audiences.[7] [9]

Thacher works as a senior creative director and research and development Imagineer at Walt Disney Imagineering. Her work includes creative leadership on the two-day immersive Disney experience,[10] the Themed Entertainment Association Award-winning Haunted Mansion: Ghost Post,[11] [12] [13] and alternate reality game The Optimist,[14] a game set around Anaheim, California and inside Disneyland that served as a promotional tie-in to the 2015 film Tomorrowland.[15]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Gartenberg . Chaim . 25 February 2022 . A look aboard Disney's $6,000 per stay, immersive Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240904120503/https://www.theverge.com/22949905/star-wars-galactic-starcruiser-hotel-interactive-disney-world-photos-price . 4 September 2024 . 26 February 2022 . The Verge.
  2. Book: Purves . Ted . Ted Purves . Revelry and Risk: Approaches to Social Practice, Or Something Like That . Thacher . Sara . Barnhart . Bridget . . 2007 . 978-1430321286 . 9 . en . 297448251 . 26 November 2024 . Google Books.
  3. Web site: Paulas . Rick . 11 March 2011 . Last Chance: The Mysteries of San Francisco's Creepy Jejune Institute . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160313035148/https://www.theawl.com/2011/03/last-chance-the-mysteries-of-san-franciscos-creepy-jejune-institute/ . 13 March 2016 . 24 February 2022 . The Awl.
  4. Web site: Lagorio . Christine . 1 April 2010 . Jejune Institute and Elsewhere . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20241126225827/https://bombmagazine.org/articles/2010/04/01/jejune-institute-and-elsewhere/ . 26 November 2024 . 24 February 2022 . Bomb.
  5. Web site: Rogers . Sol . 6 March 2020 . Five Inspiring Creators Working In The Immersive Industry . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220224020340/https://www.forbes.com/sites/solrogers/2020/03/06/five-inspiring-creators-working-in-the-immersive-industry/?sh=21e8810559a9 . 24 February 2022 . 24 February 2022 . Forbes.
  6. Web site: Paulas . Rick . 14 April 2014 . Voicemails From The Terrifying Future . live . https://archive.today/20241126-233224/https://www.theawl.com/2014/04/voicemails-from-the-terrifying-future/ . 26 November 2024 . 27 February 2022 . The Awl.
  7. Web site: Pyper . Julia . 1 May 2014 . New Climate-Fiction (Cli-Fi) Game Sends Players Clues from the Future . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240625172529/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-climate-fiction-cli-fi-game-sends-players-clues-from-the-future/ . 25 June 2024 . 27 February 2022 . Scientific American.
  8. Minchew . Brandie . 4 February 2014 . Voicemails from the Future Explore the Impact of Climate Change . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230602212150/https://www.wired.com/2014/02/futurecoast-climate-change/ . 2 June 2023 . 24 February 2022 . Wired.
  9. Pfirman . S.L. . Stephanie Pfirman . Eklund . K. . Thacher . S. . Orlove . B.S. . Diane Stovall-Soto . G. . Brunacini . J. . Hernandez . T. . December 2014 . FutureCoast: 'Listen to your futures' . AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts . 2014 . 2014AGUFMED52A..04P . subscription.
  10. Web site: Marino . Valerie . 7 October 2021 . A Stay at the New Star Wars Hotel Comes With Lightsaber Training and a Visit to Batuu . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240624213204/https://www.cntraveler.com/story/a-stay-at-the-new-star-wars-hotel-comes-with-lightsaber-training-and-a-visit-to-batuu . 24 June 2024 . 27 February 2022 . Condé Nast Traveler.
  11. Web site: Doctorow . Cory . Cory Doctorow . 23 April 2017 . The Haunted Mansion Ghost Post wins a Themed Entertainment Award! . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170711212906/https://boingboing.net/2017/04/23/room-for-1000.html . 11 July 2017 . 27 February 2022 . Boing Boing.
  12. Web site: Institute Board . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231221214823/https://www.immersiveexperience.org/leadership . 21 December 2023 . 24 February 2022 . The Immersive Experience Institute.
  13. Web site: 2017 . The Haunted Mansion Ghost Post: Designing Immersion Beyond Location . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231130011743/https://womentalkdesign.com/talks/the-haunted-mansion-ghost-post-designing-immersion-beyond-location/ . 30 November 2023 . 24 February 2022 . Women Talk Design.
  14. Web site: 18 August 2020 . RISD Alumni in VR, AR and Immersive Worlds Industry Conversation . deviated . https://web.archive.org/web/20210801230806/https://alumni.risd.edu/news-events/risd-alumni-vr-ar-and-immersive-worlds-industry-conversation . 1 August 2021 . 24 February 2022 . RISD Alumni.
  15. Web site: Bishop . Bryan . 23 May 2015 . How Disney Imagineering revealed the secrets of Tomorrowland two years ago . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240804223239/https://www.theverge.com/2013/8/20/4639110/the-optimist-disney-imagineerings-push-to-bring-alternate-reality . 4 August 2024 . 24 February 2022 . The Verge.

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