Starting to look like there's no way to do this for less than $200. Yeah, maybe I'll check with the schools, the only problem is I don't know how to design this, I just want to see what I can scrape together out of what's available and see what I can make useful by playing around and trial and error.
The lighting frame weighs around 30lbs with the lights on it so maybe a curtain track idea is more feasible instead of something that needs to support up to 500lbs..