Current productions: The Taming of the Shrew in Drama II

My Drama II class is producing Shakespeare's The Taming of The Shrew. We are currently in the blocking process of rehearsals. I play Katharine, the shrew of the play. Nathan Gladden stars as Petruchio, I intend to post the rest of the cast list as soon as I'm sure of who is who.

I am incredibly excited for this play, it's one of my favorites by Shakespeare. I'm a little torn about the script though. It's a classroom edition, and the text has been altered majorly. It's much easier to memorize and speak, but it alters the meaning of the play quite a bit. For example:

Original
Kate: I pray you, sir, is it your will
To make a stale (whore) of me amongst these mates (low class men)?

Ours
Kate: Father, is it your will to make a fool of me amongst these fools.

Of course, few high schoolers are going to understand the meaning of the original. But it seems as though the editor could have kept the original meaning and made it easier to understand as well.

Kate: Yo, Dad, are you trying to make me look like a whore amongst these losers?

Just saying. Maybe it's not my place to critique. Or maybe you can't say whore in high school theater and that's why they changed it.

The blocking is going great. Our director is excellent, of course, it's Bo. The stage combat is my favorite part, I'm really looking forward to blocking the fight scene with the widow towards the end of the play.

I'm still doing some character analysis of Kate. From what I can tell, she's not as much of a shrew as the men in the play think she is. She's just a spirited girl who's not afraid to speak up for herself. She does fall in love with Petruchio, maybe even at first sight, but his attitude is vexing enough to keep her from showing it. I'm trying to work out how best to play it. Darker or lighter?

If I be waspish, best beware my sting.