Annie Ottati and Sarah Taurchini (Teresa Castracane)

New riffs on Hamlet are a dime a dozen, so could playwright and Washington Post humor columnist Alexandra Petri really have something new to bring to what’s arguably the world’s most famous play?

She does. It helps that To Tell My Story: A Hamlet Fanfic, a production from rotating playwright collective The Welders, is more a savvy sendup of online fan fiction culture than the well-worn tale of the brooding Danish prince.

Hamlet‘s characters and major plot points provide a vague outline for events that unfold around online author Elsie (Annie Ottati), her stammering partner in crime Ophelia (Sarah Taurchini), and Horatio (Chloe Mikala), an eager online fan and commenter.

Presumably like many young fanfic authors, Elsie uses her stories as an outlet not only for her fantasies and for literary wish-fulfillment, but to process her real-life emotions and circumstances.

This all leads to a hilarious romp through the many universes of online fandom: winking allusions to Star Trek, Twilight, Sherlock Holmes, The Avengers, Middle Earth, and even, improbably, the Abraham Lincoln assassination are plentiful.

Performers Shravan Amin and Colin Connor gamely walk us through each story with winks and flourishes, rapidly-changing costumes, and a shifting digital backdrop onstage. They’re a delightful pair adept at selling over-the-top dialogue (Petri has a real ear for the cliches of the genre) and embodying the overwrought sexual tension between characters. Director Megan Behm artfully uses digital effects, from displayed computer chats to a live Facebook video, to draw the audience further into the online world its characters inhabit.

To Tell My Story is a winning satire, though it can be tricky to adjust to the shift in tone as the play becomes less about the fanfic characters’ misadventures and more closely tied to Shakespeare. As the play explores the brutality of online bullying and teen angst, the play starts to feel less thrillingly original—comparisons (and in some cases, allusions) to modern works like Dear Even Hansen and 13 Reasons Why arise. But Petri’s witty work still offers an emotional payoff, even if the audience may come away with more of an appreciation for her skewering skills.

To Tell My Story: A Hamlet Fanficruns through July 30 at Silver Spring Black Box Theater. $30. Buy tickets here.