Remote into a "closed" macbookpro?

I want to remote into a macbookpro at work (over the internet)from home, that is closed, and has no external keyboard, mouse or monitor connected to it.

I know how to establish the connection using REMOTE DESKTOP or Chicken of the VNC, when the macbookpro display is open and the machine is not in energy saver mode. However, normally when you close the display top, the machine goes to sleep.

Is there a way of setting up the macbookpro so it's powered on, but closed and doesn't go to sleep or into energy saving mode so that you can fully operate it remotely? In otherwords, I want to leave it chained up at work, but "apparently" closed so it doesn't draw attention.

Thanks for any input.