A second shot at love comes sooner than expected for a young widow and widower who meet the day of their spouses' funerals.

The Story follows Freya (Aurora Florence), a former singer-songwriter turned elementary music teacher, and Gus (John Clarence Stewart), a professional music producer who both find themselves sorting through grief, young widowhood, and solo-parenting.

Their families are trying to show up for them. Freya’s mom Wendy (Vicki Lewis) is preoccupied with what other people are thinking and her sister Elle (Rachael Winegar) is MIA. Meanwhile, Gus’s brother Chuck (Stacey Harkey) and brother-in-law Henry (Tito Livas) are walking on eggshells and heaping on pity, with just a touch of judgement.

After an accidental casket swap meet-cute and the first honest conversation either of them have had in a while, Gus and Freya go their separate ways. Following months of solitary struggle, and fed up with the criticism and judgement so often thrown at young widows, Freya reaches out to Gus with a request: an ad hoc, grief-processing, music therapy support group for just the two of them. Despite some reluctance and cold feet, they agree to meet each month on the anniversary of their spouses’ deaths.

As the sessions pass and new songs take shape, Freya and Gus begin filling in the gaps in each others’ lives with more than just music, and ever so slowly they begin to catch feelings. But is it too soon? Will it ever not be too soon?

When Freya doubts whether she is ready to move forward with her life, Gus reminds her of what she said back when they first met: "We only get one chance at this life and I don't want to waste another minute of it caring what anyone else thinks." 

Inspired by the early passing of dear friends, Too Soon is dedicated to the brave beings who dare to date after death.

Death draws attention. Unfortunately for widows and widowers (but especially widows, let’s be honest), that attention is often served with a side of judgement and scrutiny. How are they handling it? What are they going to do? When did they last shower? Why do they look kind of okay when it’s only been three weeks? Shouldn’t they be devastated?

This often gets worse when they choose to date again. And that sucks. Seeing this happen first hand to people we love is what prompted this story.

For those who have loved and lost, it’s an attempt at charting a path forward. It’s filled with heart and gives space for grief. It leans into the hope and coping mechanism of humor, for the moments when you’d rather laugh than cry. And it’s filled with original music (written by Aurora Florence and Don Miggs) as an active expression of moving energy toward whatever comes next.

For those who have not yet lost the love of their life, it explores how we can show up for those who have. It digs into what’s helpful and what’s not. And we hope it starts conversations that encourage us to lean in without judgement.
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For everyone, Too Soon is a romantic musical comedy that starts at a funeral but, we hope, doesn’t end at the final kiss.