All the World ís a stage

Chennai

Chennai: Shakespeare would be proud. More than four hundred years after those famous words were uttered at a performance of ëAs You Like Ití at Shakespeareís very own Globe Theatre, two young men from Chennai seem to have succeeded in bringing those words to life. This September, Karthik Kumar and Sunil Vishnu celebrated twelve years of Evam ñ a Chennai-based performing arts, education and management organisation.

What was originally a passionate hobby for the two graduates of the Mudra Institute of Communications has been nurtured into a profitable business. ìWe are Indiaís first performing arts entrepreneurship,î founder and co-director of Evam, Karthik tells us. ìWhen we started out in 2003, we were told that there was no money in theatre and that the only way to make money from it was to do more shows. That, even for veterans like Naseeruddin Shah and Lillette Dubey, it was nothing more than a rewarding hobby, and that we could expect nothing more,î he adds.

Fast forward to 2015 and we find that Karthik and Sunil's twelve-year-old enterprise has not only sustained itself, but done so successfully. Evam now employs 17 people full-time along with seven consultants, has travelled across the country and the world with their shows, and boasts of five distinct divisions in their company. These are: a wing dedicated solely to stand-up comedy, another to theatre management, a third to incorporating theatre techniques in corporate management training, and yet another focusing on theatre for children.

ìIn this day and age, it is necessary for theatre to be self-sustaining,î Karthik says. ìThis is the only way for an artistic discipline to survive,î he adds pragmatically. How did Evam go about this? ìDefinitely, the first few years were hard work. And none of this could have been done without the support of our families,î says Karthik, whose wife former RJ Suchi was very supportive through their first five years into the business. ìWe believe in democratising theatre,î Karthik says. ìWe believe that theatre must be accessible toall. In fact, our standup comedy performances and tours primarily target young people as we find this is the way to get them to watch live per- formances.î For these Chennai boys, who have now travelled to Singapore, Edinburgh, Australia and the US with their work, all the world IS a stage.

For more information on Evamís work visit www.evam.in