Everyone starts out inexperienced.
We aren't an education facility, we're a volunteer
theatre (although part of our articles is to educate, and we have sponsorship programmes). We get new members who have friends in
theatre and would like to try it out - maybe doing lots of different "jobs" (
stage hand,
props, sound and lights usually) until they find one they like. When I joined, in 2011, I hadn't touched a (
rheostat)
dimmer since I left school in '79, but they took me on and showed me what was where, how to do things, and I learnt the
Strand 300, and when we replaced it with an
Ion, I learnt that. Now
I train new members (some of whom have never even seen a lighting
console before) in the same way. It's very satisfying, seeing an interest take root and grow.
So a
bit of trust and some
good ground rules (and backups) are needed, and a little time to
lay down the basics, and it could set someone down a new career path.