Don't be a Scrooge and "Bah! Humbug!" this Christmas season. Instead, start it off in a more delightful manner, with Tony Lentz's rendition of A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens.

This 23-year-old Penn State tradition continues with Lentz's annual one-man rendition of the story, being performed on three consecutive Saturday nights: 8 p.m. tomorrow in the State College Municipal Building, 243 S. Allen St.; 7 p.m. Dec. 14 at Pine Grove Presbyterian Church in Pine Grove Mills; and 7 p.m. Dec. 21 at St. Peter's United Church of Christ in Aaronsburg.

"This performance is essentially the use of story-telling skills applied to a written text," said Lenz, who is an assistant professor of communication arts and sciences.

Lentz, who performed a portion of his act for his Speech Communications 380 class (Storytelling), stressed to his students the importance of being able to jump from one character to another and come back to that character, said Jeanine Noce (junior-broadcast journalism) who is taking the class.

"You could definitely differentiate between every character Mr. Lentz did," Noce said.

Lentz first heard of this tradition during his college days at the University of North Carolina. He watched in admiration and fascination while one university professor did his own rendition at a lectern, doing every single character's voice in A Christmas Carol.

While teaching in a small college in North Carolina, Lentz began writing a script that would turn into his very own rendition of A Christmas Carol. A little more than two hours in length and with a short intermission, he narrates the entire story, acting out the voices of dozens of characters from this renowned Christmas tale, compelling the audience to "fill in the blanks" themselves.

Lentz, who dons a top hat, white tie and white coattails, is hoping the audience will create the settings, scenery and colorful characters of 19th-century London by exercising its own creative imagination.

After reading an article on Lentz's performance last January, Virginia Rye, pastor of St. Peter's United Church of Christ, immediately called him because she was interested in having the performance come to her parish.

"It is a nice thing to have for the holiday season, all of the parishioners are excited," Rye said.

Lentz said the performance appeals to those who do not celebrate the Christmas tradition.

"The subjects of kindness and generosity are important themes in the story, whatever your religious background may be," he said.