Senelick joined the Department of Drama at Tufts University in 1972, where he was later named Fletcher Professor of Oratory and served as Director of Graduate Studies for 30 years.
[3][4] Senelick's scholarship has focused on popular entertainment, with research into music hall, vaudeville, circus and pantomime.
[8] His writings also studied gender in performance, culminating in The Changing Room: Sex, Drag and Theatre (2000).
[13] His productions include the US premieres of the Seneca the Younger/Ted Hughes' Oedipus, Robert David MacDonald’s Summit Conference, and Pedro Miguel Rozos’ Our Private Life.
[22] His research has been recognized by grants from the Guggenheim Foundation[23] and he has been named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,[24] the College of Fellows of the American Theatre,[25] and the Berlin Institute for Advanced Studies[26] Laurence Senelick's brother is the neurologist and author Dr. Richard Senelick.