A TV gaffer asked me if it was possible to make a gel frame, add gel and put light through it to simulate a shoot. I said I didn't know. Would be cool though.
Currently no, i can't think of a way to achieve this. Transparent materials don't affect the light passing through them, and you'd need to turn off casts shadows for any light to hit anything behind them anyway.
For colour gels, I would say just add them to the fixture directly. For things like larger silks or frosts, i'm not sure. Maybe put some geometry in to represent them, but again just add a frost to the fixtrure that's shooting through it.