Daniel Aukin directs the new work which opens March 8 for a run through April 2 at the company's Boston University Theatre.

Centers on "reclusive art collectors Marjorie and Daniel [who] have spent a lifetime together, but their bond is a tempestuous one of love mixed with bitterness." The distant couple find themselves amid the title artist's own relationship troubles shortly after he discovers he has but only months to live.

The cast of The Hopper Collection includes Leslie Lyles (The Mystery Plays, Mrs. Farnsworth, The Real Thing), Bruce McKenzie (A Streetcar Named Desire, Big Love), Therese Barbato and Brian Leahy.

The design team features Adam Stockhausen (set), Kaye Voyce (costume) and Matt Frey (lighting). Stephen M. Kaus serves as production stage manager.

The Hopper Collection originally played in Huntington's Breaking Ground Festival of new play readings. Following in the footsteps of previous Breaking Ground alum — Melinda Lopez's Sonia Flew and Stephen Belber's Carol Mulroney — Smart's play goes from a reading to a full-scale production. The Hopper Collection made its world premiere at San Francisco's Magic Theatre in 2005. Playwright Smart has also penned The Debate Over Courtney O'Connell of Columbus, Nebraska, Shoes, Chopin's Preludes, Pure, The Bebop Heard in Okinawa and Hand, Foot, Arm, and Face. He is currently at work on Telescopes (with the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab), Keep Ishmael (an Ethan Deppe rock musical at Chicago's White Horse Theatre Company) and a commission from South Coast Repertory.

Director Aukin is the artistic director of New York City's Soho Repertory Theatre where he has staged Everything Will Be Different by Mark Schultz, Suitcase by Melissa James Gibson and Molly's Dream by Maria Irene Fornes among others.

Tickets to The Hopper Collection at the Huntington's B. U. Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave. in Boston, MA, are available by phone at (617) 266-0800 or online at www.huntingtontheatre.org.