Sara Thacher

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 Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser two-day immersive Disney experience.[1]

Sara Thacher
Occupation(s)Experience designer, Disney Imagineer
Notable workStar Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, The Jejune Institute, Haunted Mansion: Ghost Post, The Optimist

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.[5][3] 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 Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser 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]

References
  1. Gartenberg, Chaim (25 February 2022). "A look aboard Disney's $6,000 per stay, immersive Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel". The Verge. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  2. Purves, Ted; Thacher, Sara (July 2007). Revelry and Risk: Approaches to Social Practice, Or Something Like That. California College of the Arts. ISBN 978-1430321286.
  3. Paulas, Rick (11 March 2011). "Last Chance: The Mysteries of San Francisco's Creepy Jejune Institute". The Awl. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  4. Lagorio, Christine (1 April 2010). "Jejune Institute and Elsewhere". Bomb. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  5. Rogers, Sol (6 March 2020). "Five Inspiring Creators Working In The Immersive Industry". Forbes. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  6. Paulas, Rick (14 April 2014). "Voicemails From The Terrifying Future". The Awl. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  7. Pyper, Julia (1 May 2014). "New Climate-Fiction (Cli-Fi) Game Sends Players Clues from the Future". Scientific American. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  8. Minchew, Brandie (4 February 2014). "Voicemails from the Future Explore the Impact of Climate Change". Wired. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  9. Pfirman, S.L.; 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. Bibcode:2014AGUFMED52A..04P.
  10. Marino, Valerie (7 October 2021). "A Stay at the New Star Wars Hotel Comes With Lightsaber Training and a Visit to Batuu". Conde Nast Traveler. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  11. Doctorow, Corey (23 April 2017). "The Haunted Mansion Ghost Post wins a Themed Entertainment Award!". BoingBoing. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  12. "Institute Board". The Immersive Experience Institute. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  13. "The Haunted Mansion Ghost Post: Designing Immersion Beyond Location". Women Talk Design. 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  14. "RISD Alumni in VR, AR and Immersive Worlds Industry Conversation". RISD Alumni. 18 August 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  15. Bishop, Bryan (23 May 2015). "How Disney Imagineering revealed the secrets of Tomorrowland two years ago". The Verge. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
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