Who said a professionally-run English language theatre company could not be commercially successful? Just give it to a pair of theatre-obsessed MBAs to run and watch it go. Sunill Vishnu and Karthik Kumar have proven it with Evam Entertainment which they started in Chennai in 2003. The company puts up original productions as well as adaptations, while running a 'Happy Factory' which organizes corporate workshops, theatre workshops for kids and something called 'Brandrama', where brands get the chance to tell their stories using live theatre. Apart from performing at festivals, Evam also manages the only English international theatre festival in Chennai pioneered by the Hindu.

It all started with Sunill and Karthik who met at the Mudra Institute of Communications (MICA) and discovered their mutual love for performing and theatre. They set up a theatre outfit called Sankalp which performed in college and beyond. Meanwhile, the duo started hatching plans of launching a professional theatre company after graduating - one that would be run like any other business. Not for them the queasiness about money and the dependence on sponsorships and grants that mark most theatre outfits.

To this end, their final thesis at MICA was on the viability of creating a theatre 'brand', for which they met actors, directors and theatre personalities across India, including the likes of Naseeruddin Shah and Sanjana Kapoor. They were universally dissuaded.

Unfazed, they decided to go ahead, but first they both took up regular jobs for a couple of years to save up money for the capital. Then, with one and a half lakhs in their kitty, they zeroed in on Chennai as the best place to launch (in typical MBA-fashion, they did their market research and realized it didn't have a theatre culture like Mumbai and Bangalore, which meant less competition and fewer pre-set views).

Along the way, they started building a team. One of the first people they took on board was a friend, Preethi Sanjeevi, who was working in Bombay in the corporate sector. They persuaded her to join them and she stayed on till she moved to Singapore a few years later. But even today, she remains associated with the brand and spearheads the overseas efforts.

Then they went on a hiring spree, placing ads in newspapers calling young, energetic people interested in theatre. "We had people calling us up to congratulate us on our efforts, saying hope we exceed our expectations. It was very heart-warming," recalls Sunill.

Today, Evam has a strong team of more than 35 professionals and youngsters. With eight full-time employees and a part-time team of around 20, Evam's office in Chennai is always abuzz with activity and talk. "The philosophy of Evam 'you are your dream' becomes a personal philosophy and this is one of the organisation's greatest strengths," says Pavithra Ramaswamy, producer, who has been with Evam since the year of its inception.