----HONOLULU John Richard Kauffman Jr., enrolled member of the Nez Perce Tribe and formerly of Kamiah, died Monday at Honolulu of complications related to the AIDS virus. He was 42.
He was an internationally recognized artistic director, playwright and performer. His most recent work was the international tour of the one-man performance ''According to Coyote,'' which included showings in Russia and Australia in 1988.
He was born June 24, 1947, at Lewiston.
He attended schools at Kamiah and Seattle, where he graduated from the Actors Professional Training Program at the University of Washington in 1970. In the early '70s he formed the Red Earth Performing Arts Company which featured productions of American Indian theater.
In 1972, Kauffman's performance of ''Indian Experience'' went to Broadway theaters at New York City. He recieved an Emmy Award for a television adaptation of the performance.
Kauffman also played roles in seven movie and television productions, including ''McCloud,'' ''Chips,'' ''Police Story,'' ''The Great Divide,'' ''High Ice,'' ''Cinderella Liberty'' and ''I Will Fight No More Forever,'' which depicted the Nez Perce War of 1877. In the late 1970s Kauffman worked as the artistic director of the San Francisco Conservatory Theatre and The Seattle Empty Space Theatre.
In 1983, Kauffman accepted the position of artistic director for the Honolulu Theatre for Youth. He had brought numerous national honors to the Honolulu Theatre. He won two Po'okela Awards for excellence in directorship and was named the Outstanding Artistic Educator for 1988 by the Hawaii Legislature. The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts sponsored his national and international tour of ''According to Coyote'' in 1987 and 1988.
Kauffman was diagnosed with the AIDS virus in July, 1988. However, he continued to work as artistic director of the Honolulu Theatre for Youth with the support and encouragement of the board and staff.
He was a speaker at the May 1989 National Indian Youth Education Conference at Lewiston. He stressed the importance of youth to follow their dreams and continue in higher education to make those dreams a reality.
The American Theatre Magazine is currently writing an article on his achievements and his battle with AIDS. His message in that article is for more people to realize how many people and families this deadly disease is affecting so that society will work harder to find a cure.
Survivors include his father, John Richard Kauffman Sr. of Seattle; and six sisters, Lilly Kauffman and Claudia Barnhart of Seattle, Jo Ann Kauffman of Chevy Chase, Md., Hattie Kauffman of Fort Lee, N.J., Carla HighEagle of Lapwai, and Carlotta Kauffman of Aberdeen, Wash.
His mother, Josephine Moody Kauffman, died previously.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the DayBreak Star Cultural Center at Seattle. A graveside service will follow at 4:30 p.m. at Fern Hill Cemetery at Aberdeen, Wash.
The family suggests memorials be made to the Northwest AIDS Foundation at Seattle, Wash.
