John Kauffman, Ex-Seattle Actor, Dies

John Kauffman, 42, an actor/

director well known in the Seattle theater community, died yesterday at his home in Honolulu. He had battled AIDS for more than a year.

Kauffman won many honors for his theatrical work, including an Emmy Award for the televised version of the one-man show, ``The Indian Experience.'' He also performed that play at A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle, at an Off Broadway theater in New York and in Washington, D.C., at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, with which he had an association for many years.

He was in his sixth year as artistic director of the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the only resident professional theater in Hawaii. In 1988 the Hawaii State Theatre Council presented him two Po'O Kela Awards for his play ``According to Coyote.'' In 1988 he also was named the outstanding artistic educator in Hawaii.

Kauffman was born June 24, 1947, in Lewiston, Idaho. His mother, Josephine Moody Kauffman, was a full-blooded Nez Perce Indian; his father, John Kauffman Sr., was of German ancestry. His mother died last year; his father lives in Seattle.

He also is survived by six sisters, one of whom - Hattie - formerly was with KING-TV, is a reporter at ABC-TV in New York.

A graduate of Seattle's Cleveland High School, he won a city-wide competition for a drama scholarship at the University of Washington. In 1970, he received a master of fine arts degree from the UW, as a member of the first class in the UW's prestigious Professional Actor Training Program.

Kauffman worked as an actor and/or director with most of Seattle's major theater companies, including the Empty Space Theatre (with which he was associate artistic director for several years), the Seattle Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, Seattle Group Theatre, Pioneer Square Theatre and the Seattle Children's Theatre.

His play, ``According to Coyote,'' was presented last spring by the SCT. Kauffman had been scheduled to perform the one-man play, but his illness prevented that.

Memorial services will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Satuday at the Daybreak Star Cultural Center in Discovery Park in Seattle. Graveside services and burial will be in Aberdeen.

Donations in Kauffman's memory can be made to the Northwest AIDS Foundation in Seattle.