In the end, no matter how much experience you have with theatre, it generally has no effect on your ability to participate in applied theatre programs. Facilitators can pay special attention to the drama ability of each participant and adjust the entire program to your needs.
But sometimes, the amount of experience you have might affect your boldness to actively participate! For some specific applied theatre forms, like Playback Theatre in which the actors just listen to you talk about a story and then perform it for you immediately, you just need the courage to share your story!
For some other forms though, like Forum Theatre where actors will invite you to improvise a different scenario to change the story on the spot, you’ll be taking a huge leap of courage if you have no prior performing experience. In the end though, it’s in the spirit of our work that people especially with no theatre experience to step out of their comfort zone and know they can rehearse other ways of walking through the world just as their everyday self.