Douglas Ridloff is the founder of ASL SLAM/SIGN SLAM. He is a visual storyteller and poet who creates original works using American Sign Language (ASL). His performances have garnered critical acclaim both domestically and internationally, featuring in numerous countries worldwide as well as at prestigious cultural institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Jewish Museum, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and SITE Santa Fe.

Mitsuo Itabashi is from Tokyo and has a Taiwanese mother. He joined the Japan Deaf Theatre in 2006, performing in independent productions and sign language "kyogen" comic theatre. After leaving the troupe in 2011, he began lecturing nationwide on the current state of Deaf society in Taiwan, the charm of its culture, and sign language. In 2013, he formed the theater group "Otoko-gumi" and held its inaugural performance in October of the same year, subsequently performing across Japan. Currently, he is widely active as an event MC, host of JSL SLAM, sign language instructor, and performer.

ASL Slam has only one mission: to preserve, nurture, showcase, and promote American Sign Language and the Deaf/signing community through performance media, offering a stage to community members to share and create traditional, contemporary, and experimental sign language literature.