Swing/AWT/SWT :: Action Listener Does Not Work With Button Click

I have buttons created on a frame and then I register the listener from a controller in a controller-view relationship.

When I click the button on the face, the action never executes for some reason. I thought maybe there was a problem registering the listener but I can call the buttons doclick() method and it executes as it should. Perhaps I'm overlooking something really obvious here but I can't see it.

btnEight = new JButton( "8" );
// btnEight.addActionListener( controller );
btnEight.setBounds( 212, 90, 41, 23 );
frame.getContentPane().add( btnEight );

and then I add the listener

public void setController( ActionListener theController ) {
Component[] components = frame.getContentPane().getComponents();
for ( Component component : components ) {
if ( component instanceof JButton ) {
JButton button = ( JButton ) component;
button.addActionListener( theController );
}
}

again, when i click the button nothing happens. but if i add the following code

btnEight.doclick()

the actionPerformed invokes in theController as I intended.

You can see the entire project on GitHub so you can see the full context. The controller class contains the listener and the view class contains the buttons.