Nearly 90 York teenagers visited the Millennium Dome to put on a show about the City of York today. The youngsters were supported at the Dome by the Lord Mayor of York, Shan Braund, and three coachloads of proud parents

What does York mean to you? That was the question posed to the young people from York who took up the challenge to take part in three performances at the Millennium Dome.

McDonalds asked young performers from across the country to tell Dome visitors about their town in the year 2000, giving each area a day on their Our Town stage.

And the result for York was Revelations, a refreshing young person's view of the real York.

It gave an upbeat message about real life, despite being housed in the slightly surreal Our Town stage at the Dome, where a 500-seat theatre nestles inside a vibrant pink cone-shaped exterior.

Visitors are free to wander in and out of the theatre, whose stage is one of the widest in the country and is equipped with the latest sound and lighting facilities.

All the ideas for York's music, dance and drama production came from young people themselves through workshops.

They told staff from City of York Council Performing Arts Services that York for them was not just about the Minster and The Walls, much as they are well-loved by residents and not just about the seemingly endless trail of ghost tours.

York was about shopping, going to the cinema, relaxing in the Museum Gardens and going out and for adults going on the Micklegate Run. It was also about homeless people, a certain lack of cultural diversity and a sometimes uncertain future for York's traditional industries.

With the ideas collected the story for Revelations was born.

The cast start off dressed in grey as narrator Grace Bird, 13, from Manor CE School tells the audience York residents sometimes feel like extras in a film set laid on for the benefit of tourists.

An American family played by Mark Bentham, 17, from York College; Zoe Holborn, 14, from Canon Lee School; Beth Stephenson, 15, from Barlby High School and Thomas Hutchinson, 14, from Joseph Rowntree School are shown making their way round the sites of York.

They take up the invitation to join Grace on a tour round the real York rejecting the offer of a ghost tour by Dan Gott, 16, from All Saints RC School. By the end of the tour and the show the whole cast are dressed in bright colours and the musical finale implores the audience: "Don't forget about us."

Cast members said they were pleased with the way the Performing Arts team led by drama consultant, Colin Jackson had used their ideas. Chrissie Nobbs, 16, said: "They took our ideas and then put them together." Louise Desaulles, also 16 said: "They discussed it all with us first."

Ruby Nelson, 14, said she had been less nervous at the Dome than she was before Wednesday's packed preview performance at the Theatre Royal.

Several parents also travelled down to watch the Dome show.

Clare Finney, 14, said her mum was a teacher at Tang Hall Primary School and was bringing a group of children from there.

The party of nearly 90 teenagers who also included the members of rock bands who got the chance to perform stayed at a hostel near the Dome on the previous night.

An exhibition of art work and poetry from the Our Town competition run in partnership with The Evening Press was also on show.

The teenagers' day in the Dome and the six months leading up to it will be something they will never forget. The people of York can be proud to have had these talented young people representing them on this national Millennium stage.