Maria Pond

Maria sums up her early life with one beautifully weird word: “floral.” She explains that flowers aren’t always in full bloom, and neither was she growing up. Without water, flowers can wilt, but with water, they can bloom and thrive. Applying the concept to her own early life, Maria says, "there are moments where I was in bloom and sometimes I needed water."

She grew up in Virginia as a “shy social butterfly,” funny with friends but not eager for the spotlight in class. Band and drama became her safe spaces when middle school got rough and lonely. She’d practice flute instead of eating lunch with others, hiding in the band room but still fully engaged in the performance required by marching band. That push–pull between wanting to blend in and wanting to perform really sets the tone for everything that comes later.

For some, college is thrilling and filled with new adventures experienced amid new friendships. But college was messy and confusing for Maria. Improv turned into her personal anchor. A random flyer and a professor’s tip led her to her first improv class, and from there, she never really looked back. When she moved to Austin in 2012, she immediately hunted for improv and landed at ColdTowne Theater, working her way through the classes and finding community among other improvisers.

Despite the ever-present thread of humor and comedy underlying most improv performances, Maria didn't see the comedic possibilities even as far into her improv curriculum. One key moment was when Lance Gilstrap, her Level 3 teacher, giving her a note telling her she was funny. It was the encouragement she needed, and from then on her path with improv was cemented: "I am going to keep doing this.”

That decision to commit fully to improv led to joining Loverboy, which became a huge creative home for her—grinding through cage matches, securing prime slots, and building a deep onstage chemistry that felt almost telepathic.

She produced and performed her own one-woman sketch show Someone Has To a few years back and loved the solo experience. Her current weekly shows include Fuck this Week (Mondays) and Garage (Thursdays), both of which scratch that one-brain collaborative itch she first found with Loverboy.

But when she needs a double-dose of collaborative energy—plus the deep friendship that fuels it—she turns to her sketch group Big Fart. Maria isn't just “doing shows” anymore; she's building a life around comedy and the people in it. She lights up when she talks about the women she performs with and what those relationships have done for her outside the theater. "Especially the strong female connections that I've made—it's so crucial in my life. It's given me power and strength to accomplish so many other things that I don't think I ever would have been able to do, outside of comedy.”

Big Fart started as a purely friend group before their inside jokes inevitably spilled onto the stage a gut-busting sketches— and kudos to her husband, a self-described"normie", for supporting her comedy friendships that double as performance powerhouses. Their 2025 ColdTony Award-winning “Boy Moms” sketch is a case in point, gleefully pushing the audience into discomfort and laughter in equal measure. Maria clearly loves when the crowd squirms a little—it’s a sign they’re hitting the right nerve and having the right people beside her doing it. We should all be so lucky.