The other day I was talking with a colleague about how our news-consumption habits had changed during the early months of the Trump presidency. The endless torrent of shocking developments from Washington had tied both of us to The Washington Post and The New York Times from the moment we got up and through much of the day. Local news, by comparison, had faded into the background.

Yet it’s local news that is essential to the civic glue that binds us together. Ultimately none of us as individuals can do much about what’s taking place nationally. We live in communities, and it’s at that level where each of us can have an effect, for better or for worse.

Last Friday evening The Boston Globe provided a vibrant reminder of that, packaging its local journalism not in print or on the web but, rather, through two and a half hours of live storytelling. Dubbed Globe Live, the event — held before nearly 600 people at the Emerson Paramount Center — featured nonfiction monologues, video, photography, music, and even some comedy.

The performances were terrific — surprisingly so given that these were journalists on stage, not trained actors. I thought the highlights were a story by Globe reporter Mark Arsenault about a 71-year-old prison inmate with a literary bent and a monologue by one of our Northeastern students, Globe intern Mayeesha Galiba, about the challenges of being a young Muslim journalist trying to cover the news objectively in the age of Trump. “How can I be objective when my body is inherently political?” she asked.

The event was edited and directed by Globe journalist Scott Helman. “I think Globe Live is a chance to expand the brand a little bit — to offer people a storytelling experience they don’t necessarily expect from Boston’s paper of record,” he told me by email after the show. “There’s also a community-building aspect to it that’s very much consistent with the Globe’s mission.”

Added Globe editor Brian McGrory: “We’re experimenting like hell with alternative formats, understanding that we need to reach people in different and novel ways. It’s in print, on smart phones, on podcasts, maybe on the radio, in theaters, on social, possibly even on street corners. We’re not a newspaper company or even a digital company, but an information company. We tell stories. And we need to keep telling them in different ways.”

The stories presented on Friday were original — none was a rehash of something that had been previously published. The evening began with a story by Sacha Pfeiffer about her close encounter with Hollywood during the making of the movie “Spotlight.” Neil Swidey presented some snippets of the worst songs Van Morrison had ever recorded, dashed off to fulfill a contractual obligation. Matt Viser played excerpts of interviews he had conducted with then-candidate Donald Trump. Deputy city editor Mike Bello and business columnist Shirley Leung shared some of the most absurd press releases they have received, including one touting a novel about a dog that had witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion. (They weren’t kidding.) A photo story by Jessica Rinaldi about the Gospel LoveTones ended with a live appearance by the performers, who closed the evening with “Lean on Me.”

Events put together by news organizations are nothing new, especially as they scramble to offset revenue losses caused by technology and changing consumer habits. Several years ago I reported on a retirement seminar The Washington Post had held in Boston, sponsored by the AARP. The Philadelphia-based mobile news site Billy Penn earns 85 percent of its revenues from events, according to founder and publisher Jim Brady. The Globe itself hosts a documentary series, a travel show, and the innovation festival HUBweek. Thus Globe Live was not an aberration; rather, it was a continuation of the paper’s strategy of connecting with the public in different ways while enhancing the bottom line.

Tim Marken, chief growth officer of Boston Globe Media Partners, told Bill Mitchell of Poynter.org that though the initial Globe Live would not be a money-maker, he hoped that subsequent iterations would attract sponsors. “When we move to sponsorship,” said, “we’ll have a much bigger opportunity.” Indeed, Mitchell reported that the Arizona Republic’s Storytellers Project has proved to be quite lucrative.

Regardless of the financial impact, events such as Globe Live help reinforce the ties that the paper has with the community. It’s a good idea not just for the Globe, but for every newspaper, magazine, and broadcasting outlet in Greater Boston.

Trump is Trump, and he’s not going to change. What really matters is how we and our neighbors live our lives. The Globe and other local media are telling those stories, and it’s useful to be reminded that we should pay attention.